Balloons!!!

Hey guys! Lately what has been on my mind is sleep, and let me tell you why. I crew for a hot air balloon, which is always a great time, of course. The problem is that you have to wake up at 4 in the morning to go out on a field, and hope that the wind will be below between 5 and 10 miles per hour on the ground, depending on how our pilot feels. This just tends to mean a nap midday, after tailgating on the field, or an early sleep that night. This, however, is not an option when you are at a balloon rally. A balloon rally is a time when every moment of your time is occupied, getting all the balloons in the air, enjoying the events, and doing as the pilots tell you. This is the story of my weekend. I had Friday off work, so my family and myself left home in the early evening on our way to Casper, Wyoming. We arrived at our hotel just after midnight, running into 2 more members of our crew, close friends. After a brief conversation about the drive and how tired we were, we retired to our rooms. We then found ourselves walking, groaning a little bit, back to the front desk. A family of 4 needs at least 2 queen beds, 1 king is not sufficient. Thanks to the rally, they were sold out, all they had was 1 more room with a king bed, reserved for someone else, but that they gave to us for the night. The kids in one room, the adults in another, 4 floors and several rooms apart. In the morning, we checked out of the hotel room, and departed to go ballooning. This day was all about the local media. The wind was high enough that our pilot, the balloon miester of the event, who we shall call Mickey told the pilots gathered "You could fly if you want, but the landing is sure to be...sporty" Only one balloon flew, and they only did it for the TV publicity.  We went garage sale shopping, because we knew that this was our only day for personal time, for relaxing time. I purchased a short sword for $10 to go on my wall. We napped for 4 hours, which, when combined with the previous night's sleep, we still didn't get 8 hours of precious sleep. We awoke to go to the pilot exclusive dinner. We were invited because of the invitation of the balloon miester, the ultimate authority. spaghetti and conversation, as well as brownies that were good enough to make me believe that someone sold their soul for the recipe. They did us all a service in the process. We swam in the hotel's indoor pool for a short while, enjoying the feel of water. That night gave us about 6 hours of sleep. We arose once again at the crack of dawn to go ballooning, but again we weathered out, no balloons even setting up. We proceeded to join a family friend, Daniel, for a large-scale float down the river, for any balloonists and crew that wanted to. It was tranquil and scenic, and then we hit the rapids, I almost flipped once, just at the end of the last rapid, but I stayed in. During this time, we got a brief history of a conservation project in the area from a local pilot. After the float, we  rushed back the the hotel room to get dressed in full Mardis Gras garb, for a themed pilot party. The crayfish boil was delicious and there was more than enough. After the party, we went straight downtown to candlestick. This is when we set up the baskets without the envelopes and send flames high into the sky. I attended the burner for a while, as children teens and adults came in and out of the balloon, pulling the burner for fun. There was even a pair of blonde twins my age that each stood on a side of me and pulled a burner for a photograph. I was made fun of for that for sure, as I was single, and one left a piece of hair behind stuck on my shoulder by accident. I was also caught off guard that evening when, as I was passing out ballooning cards and pamphlets a girl (who was too young for me, probably about my sisters age) points at me as I am giving her family their stuff, and exclaims in a bit of a fast shriek "OMG he is adorable" Or something along those lines. Neither me or her parents new how to react. I essentially ignored it and politely directed them over to our basket, so they could pull the burner. A late night, and minimal sleep, plagued us again, and I hoped that sleeping on the floor this many nights was not hurting my back. We woke, and finally, we flew. It was a beautiful flight, and the man inside the flight proposed to his girlfriend(lovely people). I was on the ground, of course, chasing the balloon. But not before I could take some pictures of a balloon. I had been commissioned to take these photos at my last rally in Frederick, Colorado. At that rally, I could not get the pictures I needed to give my client the options he required and deserved. Saturday, I got the photo that will go on the side of his trailer for all to see, with my name right by it. We departed, and the drive home was long, but enjoyable, as we were all listening to the 39 clues, and I spent a bit of the ride writing this blog entry. Well, I guess that is all for this time. See ya and allons-y!

Sounds important

Hey guys. As you can most certainly not tell by the title of this post, what has been on my mind lately is communicating, the importance of doing it clearly, and the benifits of it. Yesterday, I was supposed to be helping organize a trip to my local lake with some friends of mine. When weather went south, I was forced to call it off, this is about the time that things began to go south. I didn't have everyone's numbers, and even using chain messages through the people I did have the contact info of, it did not get to the right people, especially those that were most important to get the info to(my fellow organizers). It was successfully postponed and the evening saved, but I realized that this was pure luck, and I had to be better prepared. I have since made sure that contact info was better spread, and will word my needs differently in the future. Also, as some of you may know, I recently started a job at a tech company in my area, and so far it's been great, working on computers, chatting with my co-worker(who started the same day as me), and having an overall wonderful time. Today was great as well, but my co-worker was in a less-chatty mood than normal for her. The day seemed to move physically slower, and boredom threatened to sink in and take me over(repetitive work). I'm sure everything will work out fantastically, but I never realized that communication, even worthless chatting, can be a very effective form of entertainment and motivation. That is what I call a large-scale benefit of communication(and having friends wherever you may be). So I charge each of you, to go out, re-connect with an old friend, make a new one, or make plans to hang out with one you don't see enough. I also charge you with the task of being kind to all who you see, you may be surprised who will come back later in your life, and remember the little things you did, even if you just sold them coffee or something. You will thank yourself for doing what I have set forth for you to do. It may even change your life, always for the better. See ya and allons-y

Changes!

Hey guys, as you can see, both blogs have gone through some changes, especially this one. The reason behind this is that I am in a mood for change. Goodbye white background! Goodbye Photoshopped Matt Smith logo! Goodbye default Favicon! Hello new. What got me in the mood for change is a recent change in my family. My oldest step-brother had a daughter. We get to help raise it. I may not be a father, but I am an uncle, and as you are aware, I think that is better. If you haven't read that post, here is the link The Joy of Children. Children at all ages have their upsides, as far as care-giving goes, and all is rewarding. I am going to have the pleasure of being their for my little niece Amaya through every stage of her life, and yet won't have to be there all the time, for all of the bad. It is not right for everyone, but I will love it. It is an indescribable feeling, to see a newborn, know that it is of your own family, and know how big of a part of it's life you will be, almost to the letter. I know that feeling now. I hope that this new addition to the family will like me half as much as I like her already. I hope you guys like the changes to the blog, but don't worry, I am still going to keep up my spastic posting schedule, and keep each blog to the same themes I began with. I would also like to announce a contest. My google plus page needs a cover, and I want one that is fan made. Every entry will be featured on the blog of your choice, and my favorite will go up on the page. Send all entries to bibobottrell@gmail.com See ya and allons-y.

Always be Prepared!

Hey guys! So what is on my mind right now is preparedness. This is partly because, of course, I am a scout. The other reason, which is more the leading case in point, is that just yesterday, the perfect storm arrived while I was downtown. Me and my family were driving when we blew a tire. Not a problem right? Even after driving a mile on a flat to a parking space, just replace with the spare. It is when you take the jack and tools out of the vehicle that it gets tricky. Even then one can walk to a shop or flag someone down to borrow their tools. The big thing that became the issue was we had recently taken the glove box out to do some wiring work in the dash, and the tire lock was inside. DON'T FORGET YOUR GLOVE BOX AT HOME is the new phrase for preparedness. See ya and allons-y.

The Joy of Children

नमस्ते(Namaste) guys! That is right, we have added India to our list of countries, on this blog and not the other one! I am pretty happy about this and I hope you are too. I will post randomly on both blogs from now on, until I can manage more time to write. Today, I wanted to write about the joy that children can bring. I have been helping with a cub scout pack for a few months now and it is one of the best things I have ever done. I spend most of my time with the tigers, which are first graders. Kids, no matter how badly they behave, will bring a smile to your face and pride to your heart every time they do something right, and sometimes by doing nothing at all. Tonight I am helping the whole pack, made of 1st through 5th graders, with going to a Boondocks to play games and laser tag. They do outings like this from time to time. But, more than anything, I am exited to see the kids. I feel like having them full time may get on my nerves, and I would get tired of them, but I would be glad to work with them more than I do now. I am not advising anyone to have kids, but I am advising everyone to spend some time with them, on a volunteer basis. Nothing is more worth your while. See ya and Allons-y.

Getting out of the zone

So right now what's on my mind is stepping out of our comfort zone. I attended a sports banquet tonight in honor of my team. This is a thing that never could have happened if I stayed with the plan I made in my youngest of youths, to never play a sport ever again... My team was the worst of them all, and since this is our first year we have played, we don't get a division, only scrimmages. But I enjoyed it. That is really my mind right now. But you gotta step out of that comfort zone. Worst case scenario, leave and never go back to that activity. More likely, you will enjoy it. I did.

How to find good restaurants cheap

So this weekend I went to a nice dinner at The Melting Pot, a great fondue restaurant I know of, on accounts of a special occasion. It, in fact, is my new favorite restaurant. However, as a meal for 6 clocked almost 400 dollars, I will not be going as an every Friday thing. However, many of my favorite restaurants do not cost an arm and a leg, or require reservations, or take many hours to consume. I will teach you my family secret to success in the eating industry. It is a several step process. First, abandon your current eating patterns, most people fall into going to the same few restaurants, locking them into a dangerous cycle of boring same orders and never trying new places, making it impossible to find the good cheap food. The second step is to try the little hole-in-the-wall, mom and pop, run down looking places, especially those that you have not heard anything negative about, or anything by that matter. It is all a game, a gamble, you get really good food at a good price, or it sucks and you don't go back. Food poisoning is something that can happen although it's rare. Some of the best meals I have ever had are a house fried rice at a small local Thai place and a giant Navajo taco that looked like a pizza while passing through the little town of Las Vegas New Mexico in a restaurant themed off of smiley faces. Long story short go to small places, take the risk, it's worth the reward. See ya and allons-y.