In search of the Holy Grail . . . of cycling jackets

I'm an avid cyclist, doing long Saturday recreational rides, and often commuting to work. Living in the beautiful, cycling-friendly Pacific Northwest also means I need some rain and cold protection while riding. I've been on a long quest to find the optimum cycling jacket, which would have the following characteristics:

1. Rainproof
2. Wind protection
3. Breathes well, so you don't overheat and sweat too much underneath
4. Light/bright color for visibility (but not too wild)
5. Reasonably priced, or at least available at deep discount somehow

The most difficult item for me has been #3. There have been a number of nice jackets I have tried that just leave me soaked inside after moderate exercise, including expensive GoreTex models. I have an old, low-tech jacket that is perfect for #3, but provides no rain protection and very little wind protection. Still, on a cool, dry day it works well.

But for those wet or cold days the best I've been able to do is use a fairly expensive, hi-tech jacket with pit zips. I recently bought a Mountain Hardware jacket at the Columbia employee store which is probably the best so far of all the jackets I have tried ($185 cost was half of retail!!). Yesterday I picked up another Mountain Hardware jacket at that store which is a very lightweight shell, but since it has no pit zips I was pretty skeptical about adequate breathability. I tried it today on my wet commute to work and I was actually pretty pleased with it. I may have found a good jacket for cool, wet days, or days with risk of wet and I can just stuff this little jacket into my back jersey pocket. I'll have Suzanne put it under the Christmas tree for me (along with several other "toys" I have procured for myself, but that is worthy of another blog post).

Riding in the cold

Last month I wrote a post about riding my bike home from work in the dark. My current adventure is commuting on my bike in cold weather. We are having a cold spell this week. My car reported 18 degrees this evening--I'm sure the lowest it has ever registered (in the 2+ years I have owned it).

I was up for the challenge and decided to ride every day this week (no snow in the forecast). Yesterday there was a cold east wind, which provided a fun tailwind on the ride to work, so it went just fine. But I knew the ride home would be a bit grim. It was in the 20's, and who knows what the wind chill factor was. My face froze pretty quickly. My hands took a while, through two layers of gloves, but they got pretty cold. And my toes. With the headwind my ride was about 40 minutes. But I made it!

Today may have been a bit colder, but not so much wind. Tomorrow should be colder still. What fun!

I know--those of you who live in colder climes are thinking I'm a wuss!

Busy day

Well, I shouldn't have gloated about how well tithing settlement went last week. Today was hectic, beginning with Sunday School time, when I was bombarded with people who needed something from me, plus three interviews. I had hoped to go into the Primary for a bishopric message to the children, but just didn't make it (at least to the Junior Primary--I did for the Senior Primary).

Then I mistakenly allowed a PPI to go 15 minutes over, forgetting I had another appointment before starting tithing settlement sessions at 2:00, so right off the bat I was 20 minutes behind. There were no breaks in the schedule so I just plowed away, and was only five minutes behind towards the end.

But, once again, I felt sustained and energetic, even on fast Sunday (someone brought me food but I had to set it aside). After coming home around 4:30 I helped Daniel fix dinner, then I was able to rest a bit.

So cold and windy today, but no snow. But it still reminds me of our magical snow week (or two) last year this month.

What a difference a month makes

Here is the picture I posted at the beginning of November showing the fabulous fall colors looking out the window at my work.

And here is the same view yesterday.



Colors are pretty much gone. And there is a fog about to settle in. It is that time of year. Of course, we do get nice sunny days from time to time. But I confess I kind of enjoy the fog. Just gives a cozy, quiet feeling. I even rode my bike home in it yesterday. I have a new bike light that shines very brightly, so riding at night is markedly improved for me.

By the way, I was successful posting to my blog every day in November (thank you, Bridget, for the challenge). I'm not sure how regular I will be in December, we'll see.

Tithing settlement

We had our first tithing settlement session today (Sunday) for 2009, my fourth year as bishop. The clerks and my counselors divide up the sessions to share the load, but I am there for each session, for the entire session. And these come on the tail end of long Sundays (without a break), or after a full day of work on weeknights. It would be reasonable to assume I do not look forward to it, and it is a hard thing to do, physically and emotionally. But this assumption would be wrong. This is one of those counterintuitive things, like paying tithing itself.

Today about an hour or so into the session, one new family in our ward arrived at their appointed time and was pleasantly surprised to be ushered right into my office, that we were running right on time. I could see how his family, with five small children, would be inconvenienced by delays. I run on six minute intervals, so ten families per hour. The family comes in, I briefly review their callings to see if everything is okay, then we review tithing status for each member, I thank the family for their contributions of money and time, thank them for all their service in the ward, and read my annual "tithing scripture" (Ether 12:4 this year) and bear short testimony. I do not engage in additional discussions, but do take notes for any follow up interviews that might be needed. I don't count or reconcile any additional contributions--my counselor and clerks do that (or my "elves", as I refer to them).

Last year we had two Sundays that were snowed out, where church was cancelled (extremely rare here in Oregon). We had the unique experience of doing "house calls" for tithing settlement, so we could salvage as much of the session schedule as we could. What a memorable time that was, driving around with my counselor in deep snow and visiting homes.

I'm sure this is one example where I am strengthened and sustained in my service. I find I am energetic and upbeat the entire session. I am humbled and awed by the good people in my ward, and feel it a unique blessing to sit amongst them in this capacity. After I am released I know this will be one experience I will miss, and will look back on fondly.

Things change

Friday there were only a couple of stores I wanted to go to to pick up sale items. I went to Michael's to buy some picture frames and matt for putting together some more temple pictures that we give as gifts (see photo above). It has been four or five years since my last such purchase at Michael's, and I was dismayed to find they no longer carry the particular frame I always buy. In fact, there were hardly any frames at the size I needed (12X16). And they changed matt companies so they didn't have my colors. Bummer.

I then swung over to the Oroweat bread outlet store, and for the second time in a row they didn't have my favorite Country Wheat bread. When I asked the checkout lady she informed me they have discontinued that kind of bread. Oh, I was so disappointed as I loved it. Back to plain old whole wheat (or "black bread" as Daniel calls it).

This reminds me of another great disappointment. For years I loved Tillamook Ice Cream, and rejoiced that they persisted in selling the full 2 quarts while other brands dropped to 1.75 quarts. A couple of years ago we were visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory and I was telling the manager there how much I liked their ice cream and was so glad they sold 2 quarts. She got a strange look on her face, then confessed they were also switching to 1.75 quarts. Their marketing types said it was by "customer demand". Yeah, right. Well, at least they are still 1.75 quarts, and I see Dreyers is now 1.5 quarts.

Things change, and you just have to roll with it. In fact, I found a different frame (white, instead of gold) which I'm excited about and may be an upgrade for my temple picture. It costs twice as much, but with the 60% off sale, and further 20% off total purchase, we did just fine buying eight of them today (Saturday).

The miracle of birth

I was fortunate to be present at the birth of each of my five children.

Our first, Blair, was born in Provo, UT, and after a long and difficult labor, and after being sent home after our first trip to the hospital. How discouraging that was. But what a thrill to be new parents!

Daniel came five weeks early in Ridgecrest, CA. I was at work and my home teacher found me during lunch and told me to rush to the hospital, that Suzanne was in labor and delivery was imminent. (We didn't have cell phones in those days.) I didn't think this was possible and figured it would be a false alarm. When I arrived at the hospital they led me right into the room where Daniel had just been born and the doctors were working frantically to get him breathing (which he did, but what a scare!).

Bridget threatened to come early (Boise, ID), so Suzanne was confined to bed the final few weeks. When Suzanne went into labor I said "let's go!". Good thing we wasted no time because it was a wild rush to the hospital (I don't recall how many red lights I ran)--it was all Suzanne could do to hold off giving birth in the car. She delivered just a few minutes after getting to her room.

Teresa came a couple of weeks early, if I remember right (Portland, OR). We knew by now not to dilly dally once labor started, so we avoided the wild drive to the hospital, but she was still born not long after getting there. I think Teresa may have been our first ultrasound, and the doctor thought she was a boy, but we felt she would be a girl and were glad.

Steven was at risk of being born quickly, so the doctor arranged to induce right about the due date. Just a normal early morning drive to the hospital, and Steven arrived later that morning (Portland, OR).

There is nothing like the euphoria you feel after a newborn arrives in your family. It is one of the top wonders of the world.