The ultimate trifecta: Positivity, appreciation, and food.

Last week, I was further up north in the middle of Michigan helping a small practice go live on our health system’s EMR.

I love getting out of the office and helping with go lives. It takes me back to my days at Allscripts and reminds me that I still have a calmness in the face of a storm that got me through 3 years of implementing EMRs across the country.

I had an experience at this practice that was entirely unexpected. About midweek, someone suggested the idea of a potluck on Friday. Seeing that we had all already clicked pretty well, it wasn’t surprising that the mere suggestion was quickly taken as fact by everyone as we gave previews of what we might bring.

I told everyone about a chip dip we call “Normandin Dip” (recipe below) in my family. This simple concoction of cream cheese, miracle whip, and an ungodly amount of onion always causes my family to hover around the island during Thanksgiving, when it makes its annual appearance. Addictive doesn’t start to describe it.

So on Friday, we all came in with our special dishes creating a smorgasbord of top-notch family recipes.

Venison Stew. Whipped Pumpkin Spice Dip on Graham Cracker Cookies. Creamy Coleslaw. Baked Beans. Cheesy Potatoes. Fresh Tossed Salad. Refried Bean Taco Dip.

One of the doctors started it when he said, “This is so cool! I love that this happened!”

Every few minutes as we ate, talked, and laughed, another person would come to the same realization, as if it wasn’t already said: “This is so awesome! Everyone brought incredible dishes! I love it!”

And so on and so on. It was like an echo chamber of positivity and appreciation. Each time someone acknowledged it, it just crescendoed again and we all nodded and took another bite of something even more delicious because of the good vibe.

Looking back, I can safely say it was my best experience with food. It makes me smile to think back about it.

More proof that thoughts are things and positive ones are contagious.

Normandin Dip

16oz Cream Cheese
6 – 8 oz of Miracle Whip
One medium-to-large red onion

Soften the cream cheese at room temperature. Chop the onions and add them to the cream cheese. Beat the mixture together with a hand blended or fork (we think getting the juices out of the onions with a hard beat is part of the secret). Add Miracle Whip (at least 6oz) to the desired consistency.

Leave in fridge over night. Serve with Ruffles or similarly strong chips. The dip tends to break them.

Western Road Trip with Ian

5 days, 4 stops, 3 states, and about 1,300 miles. The journey was the destination.Originally, our plan was to hang out Phoenix, but at the last minute Ian’s wife, Jaja, couldn’t join us so we decided to lay out a road trip.

Phoenix –> Joshua Tree –> San Diego –> Las Vegas –> Grand Canyon –> Phoenix.

What’s great about this route is that you’re never more than 4-hours drive from your next stop.

More than just visiting the places on our itinerary, I was most looking forward to some time on the road, catching up, and traveling with only a set of destinations and few plans for when we got there.

My kind of trip 🙂

Stop One: Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The landscapes and changing wildlife made you feel like you were traveling much further distance than you actually were. The views were spectacular and the weather was perfect.

To cap it off, we caught an awesome sunset looking over the San Andreas Fault with a group of fellow sunset gazers. There was something refreshing about being with a bunch of people taking in the same view. Good vibes, good times.

Stop Two: San Diego

I really had no idea what to expect from San Diego. That seems to be the best orientation before going somewhere new. 🙂

We spent some time walking around Balboa Park before realizing we really needed some way to tour the city. Enter the $30 hop-on-and-off city trolley 🙂

We bopped around San Diego and stopped off at places for lunch and a pier-side restaurant where we could kick back and do some people watching over a beer.

I had one of the tastiest pizza slices of my life at the righteous NAPIZZA in Little Italy. Truffle Porcini and a slice of chicken pesto pizza.

Stop Three: Las Vegas

No photos were taken here. 🙂 And, really, I don’t think it had anything to do with Vegas. Ian and I caught Cirque du Soleil’s Love (The Beatles). The show wasn’t as acrobatic as most Cirque shows, but if you never had the opportunity to see The Beatles live, this is as close as you’ll get.

After the show, we milled around Fremont, checked out The D, had a coney, and donated a few dollars to the casinos.

Stop Four: The Grand Canyon

This was Ian’s favorite stop. I think he loves the Western expanses more than I do.

We probably could have used more time here (got a late start from Vegas), but even the few hours that we spent were memorable. It doesn’t take more than a second of the Grand Canyon to slip into an awesome mood.

Every 100 yards or so, it seemed like the Canyon rearranged and repainted itself beneath you. The park is really maintained and whether they intended it or not, I loved that you could step out beyond the marked path and walk out and perch on some rocks overlooking everything. Even with tons of people there, it still felt like you could find a little spot, a little moment for yourself.

After the Grand Canyon, we overnighted in Flagstaff. More of just a lodging stop, it still got me thinking about winter due to the nearby slopes.

It was a great trip and a fun chance to catch up with Ian who moved away from Chicago earlier this year. Sorry Jaja! We’ll get you on the next one. 🙂

New York, New York

Empire Point of View 🙂

After so many years of investing, it was fun to see where some of it goes down. Went to a nice beer garden nearby. Ordered a Bell’s Double Cream Stout for Mitten State solidarity 🙂

Walking along High Line Park. It took you up and close to so many modern and old buildings along its abandoned rail line. My mom loves the shade of blue on the building in this picture.

2015/2016 Winter Recap

It’s 91 degrees and July. Feels just about right for a 2015/2016 winter recap 🙂

This was a beautiful winter. I took two trips out to Colorado: my usual Breckenridge trip in February — joined this time by my friend Jennifer — and a second late-season trip to Steamboat Springs.

Breckenridge has become familiar over the past three years. This season made it feel completely fresh and new though as Jennifer (a righteous and experienced skier), helped me challenge myself and take on harder terrain. Whenever I go to Colorado, I’m always pretty deliberate about working my way up to increasingly more difficult runs. This year, I realized that prudence has been holding me back.

Growing up partly in Utah, Jennifer has no trouble bombing down double blacks and then turning back to remind me that this run would be a single black in Utah. I had no choice but to follow and follow I did. I couldn’t believe that I was handling double blacks in Colorado (granted, Breckenridge’s blacks can be considered a little soft). I don’t know if it was my switch riding that helped me balance my muscles or just the basic lesson I learned on YouTube over the summer about moguls (i.e. it’s ok to ride your edge over the top and you don’t, don’t, don’t have to stay in the valleys), but I felt balanced, in control, if a little tired by my quads adjusting to the altitude and having tons of work to do.

I was beyond excited. Over the past seasons, I’ve focused on my carving and switch riding, doing it on 200 feet of icy love that we call mounts in the Midwest. All that work has paid off. Moguls no longer buck and throw me like a bronco. I look at them with goosebump anticipation instead of crippling fear. It feels incredible to look down at fields of moguls, under the chair lift, and say to yourself, “I am taking this line!”

And that leads me to Steamboat Springs. With several days of Steamboat tree-riding behind me, I was feeling good as I headed up one of my last chairlifts with my friend Robert. Underneath the lift laid a line of moguls the entire way and tons of elevation to manage. I couldn’t wait to get to the top of the chairlift. This was going to be my best line of the trip. I was ready.

And I made it, in control the entire way, traversing down steep moguls sections interrupted by crossing paths before dropping into the next patch of moguls and making my steady decent to the beginning of the chairlift. I still can’t get over the feeling. Looking down at all this terrain that used to terrify me and now, bump by bump, I was carving my way down, planning my path, and before I knew it, I was greedily taking my last turns around the moguls, not wanting it to be over.

At the bottom, I took off Robert’s GoPro, looked into the camera, and let out a “WHHEW!” (not characteristic of the steady calm me). Later that night, we found out that the lens was fogged over and you couldn’t make out any of my ride. Oh well. The memory and, more importantly, the feeling is in my head. My arms pucker with goosebumps as I replay the line in my mind during these warmer months.

So, it was an unexpectedly successful season. I moved way beyond the point where I thought I would be. I’m so thankful that Jennifer, with her nonchalant Utah attitude, insisted on heading down some double blacks early in Breckenridge. By the end of the trip, she was probably sick of what she set off in me as I carved off trail and into steep wooded paths (she’s not a fan of that kind of cramped riding, but I’m finding that I am). As excited as I was about the riding, I enjoyed even more seeing her ahead of me, making her turns and tearing it up.

Next season is only 4 or 5 short months away. So what’s up next?

  • Continue working on moguls, of course. Some of the really steep and tight trees in Steamboat still destroyed my quads. I either couldn’t hold up against them because I didn’t have enough strength, or I was not riding them as efficiently as I can. I’ll have to figure that out.
  • Keep working on my switch riding and introduce some switch riding in the trees. 🙂
  • I’d love to get into some freestyle, but again, me being deliberate and safe, I don’t want to risk my body to get there. I’ve been telling myself I’ll hire an instructor to help me get the basics down for taking airs. All I want is to feel stable on jumps and then mix in grabs and maybe some 180s and 360s.

I already have my tickets booked for a Utah trip in February and I’ll be shifting my March trip to Breckenridge.

What a season. 🙂 I’ll enjoy this sunlight and warm weather now, but I’d be lying if I don’t admit that I think about what’s in store this winter.

Running at Rose Lake State Wildlife Area


Today was a beautiful day for a run. After a year and a half of living in the Lansing area, I finally found Rose Lake Wildlife Area and my new trail running spot 🙂

The trails are pretty tight and a bit overgrown in some areas. It forces you to dodge and duck all the time, making you feel like a running back in training.

I’m still learning the area as you might see from the screenshot above. I made a wrong turn and had to run an extra mile (not shown on the screenshot) to get back to my car 🙂

Highlights:

  • Dragonflies everywhere. I ran through clouds of them, stirring them up in the air around me.
  • One bug inhaled. This could be a lowlight but since it was only one, I’m going to keep this in the highlight section. 🙂
  • Ran 4 miles instead of my usual 2.5.
  • Bumped into a lady who was petting a little painted turtle on the trail. 🙂

Nice weekend.

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