Number 16~Thank You Melissa and Jeff

I promised you (or at least hoped) for another post before the day was out and here it is. Avery was born to Melissa and Jeff at a little after 1:00 p.m. today. November 26, 2008. She weighed in at a healthy 6 lbs 11 oz, and was 19 1/2" long. Of course she is beautiful, what would you expect with such heritage. I learned a long time ago that hair always comes out darker in photos than it really is. Her hair is much blonder than it looks here, but as you can see she has a fair amount already. These photos were take when she was about 2 1/2 hours old. We're hoping to see her eyes tomorrow, and we understand she has healthy lungs.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

As I write this I have no new grandbabies. Melissa is laying in the hospital. They induced labor this morning, and the last text msg I received said she was in pain, but that was a couple or three hours ago. I talked to Kathryn, and there is no progress with her at all, she's just sitting at home getting ready for Thanksgiving. My guess is that there will be another post before the day is out, with a photo of little Avery. Today is quite warm for this late in November. It is expected to get to near 50 f. I went for a bike ride, and even though I have been riding the exercise bike some, it has not been enough, I did just a little over 7 1/3 miles and I was pretty warn out. I have vowed to get on one of the bikes a lot more often. As I was traveling today I took a few photos and left is one of them. Jeanne's knee has been injured, but she is recovering pretty well thanks to being careful and a visit to the doctor on Monday, but she did get on the excercise bike for a few minutes today.

Happy Birthday to Our Baby Girl

Do you remember November 20th 1980. I do. Jeanne's doctor told us that if our baby hadn't been born by then he would induce labor. I was pretty excited and so I made sure I didn't have any appointments that day. You see, I had my own photo studio in downtown Ogden, and I was the chief photographer. All photos were done by appointment, so I made sure I was clear for the day. In to the hospital we went. Jeanne was preped and the drugs to induce labor began dripping into her veins. Then, we waited, and waited and waaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiited. The doctor forgot to tell me that sometimes it took many many hours before the baby was born. Turns out I should have kept my calendar clean for two days, not just one. The problem was, we made most of our money in November and Early December as people had family and personal portraits done for Christmas. So, on November 21st I'm back in the studio taking photos and still no baby. Jeanne's up at the hospital, just relaxing and enjoying life laying in the bed with the IV still dripping and her older sister Joanie is there to be with her. As I rembember it, I got a call somewhere around 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon that I'd better get to the hospital. I got there as fast as I could, but I was a little late, and so waiting for me was not just Jeanne, but Jeanne and our newest, and last, baby, Melissa. Melissa wasn't born with the best of health, turns out she had jaundice and so had to spend a few extra days in the hospital, and then we had to return every day or two for a few weeks to get her under the lamps. Then for the first year she was often sick and in pain from colic or something. After a few months of Melissa we decided she should be our last. But something magical happened at just about the one year mark and since then she has made up for that first year ten thousand times over. She has brought great joy to our lives and still does. We love you Melissa and wish you the very happiest of a

Happy Birthday

November 12, 2008: A Day of Eternal Significance

Dustin was proxy for Aaron and, of course, Eric was there for himself as we had Aaron and Eric sealed to us in the Ogden Temple, where we were married over 35 years ago. It was a day I had been waiting for for over 38 years.

Afterwards we went to celebrate and share a meal at El Matador in Ogden. My sister Renee joined us for the sealing and the meal. Jannica is holding her two month old niece.

Our Friend Chad Barton also joined us. Unfortunately his wife Jayne had back to school night and since she is the teacher she had to be there. You would never know from this photo that Melissa is due to have a baby in the next couple weeks.

Not Shown in the photos is Eric's little brother Clay and his wife Tiffany who also joined us at the sealing (The baby Jannica is holding is theirs) and Eric's little sister Ginger who joined us for the meal.

My Review of Proform 450 UR Upright Bike

Originally submitted at The Exercise Bike Superstore

Proform 450 UR Upright Bike

Overall Good Value

By Bull Rhino from Northern Utah on 11/4/2008

 

4out of 5

Pros: Easy To Adjust, Smooth Operation, Stable, Easy To Use, Quiet Operation, Comfortable

Cons: Console Computer

Best Uses: General Fitness, Heart Rate Training, Weight Loss, Physical Therapy, Low Impact Exercise

Describe Yourself: Frequent Exerciser

So you know where I'm coming from I'll tell you up front I am a male in the baby boomer generation. In the summer time I enjoy riding my bike around the neighborhood at least a couple times a week. My bike is in the genre called a comfort bike, and I'm comfortable with about 10 miles per ride, though my goal is to get back up to the 16 or more that I used to do before I took a couple year hiatus. I also bought my wife a bike for neighborhood rides this year, but she has not ridden for quite a while and so has a long way to go to get up to even get to be able to do a 10 miler.

We bought the Pro-Form 450 UR so we could stay on it through the cold snowy winter months and be ready for next spring. We bought it from someone who had owned it for a while but never even broke the seal on the box. Our bike was built in December 2006, and assembled and used for the first time in November 2008.

As of this writing, we've only had it for a few days, and only put a few miles on it. I'm sure you know that one of the features of this bike is that it has games on it. For me the games are a good diversion even though they are very rudimentary. I played the “Tetris” style game and the “Destroyer” game years ago, but even then I was playing them in color, where as this display is an extremely low resolution monochrome. I don't know how the younger generation would be attracted to these games when they are used to what they have now. Maybe they'd stick to the blackjack and Texas hold-em card games. The obvious point of the games, and as I said above, it worked for me, is to keep your mind off the exercise routine. Before you get too excited about the games though, be sure you read the last paragraph of this review. Of course you could always watch TV or a movie. The machine is very quiet and I found I do not have to increase the TV volume at all to hear well.

The other features seem to be fairly comprehensive, though I have not owned another exercise bike, so I have nothing to compare it to. It uses the SMR (Silent Magnetic Resistance), which I like much better than cranking some dial to cause friction, and it seems to work very well with 16 resistance levels. By the time you get to level 16 you are climbing one heck of a hill, at least for a baby boomer. It has 10 built in programs which I have not tried, only looked at. There appears to be a good variety keeping in mind that I have no comparison. The readouts are large and easily readable for speed distance, time and heart rate. I'm having to assume they are fairly accurate, I have no way of checking.

The bike is very solid. Heavy, strong metal is used, and it gives you a feeling of stability. The seat post and glide are very substantial. The seat is large and soft, though I have thought of wearing my padded biker shorts anyway with my bony butt. It's even quite a good looking machine in case you have it where others might see it. Speaking of the seat, it can be adjusted a great distance in height and some in horizontal. My wife is about 5'8” and she has to set it almost to the bottom setting, so I wonder about a short person. Maybe by bringing the seat forward they would be okay. On the other hand, I think a person of 6' 6” or even taller could use it comfortably with the maximum height.

All in all I would say it is a good investment. However, there is one major flaw with the computer console that you should know about before you make a purchase. If you want to use an exercise program on the machine you cannot also play a game while you go through it. The instant you start a program or switch to a game or vice versa you start fresh. Even if you go from one game to another, or you've been in manual mode and you decide to play a game, you start all over. All the time info, miles, calories burned, starts from scratch. So, if you do want to keep track of any of that information you better not make any changes once you've started. Or, if you want to switch around, then just forget the calorie, or distance count and look at a clock or set a manual timer.

(legalese)