Job hunting and waterfall running

Greetings loyal blog readers. As I'm sure you all know by now Lora and I are pregnant and are SOOOPER excited about it. If you haven't checked out the pictures in the previous post yet be sure to. It's a good shot of our alien baby.

You also know that I've been back in the States for just over a month. I came home to find a job so that we could afford to have this baby. Well, I knew it would be a hard to get all of the necessary documents needed to secure a job here in Cali but boy was I in the dark. It has taken soooo much longer than I expected. I started early with my credential back in February and now that I have that I've been told that I need so much more. Currently, I'm waiting for what I think is the last crucial paperwork from Utah. Of course it was supposed to be here on Monday. It's quite frustrating waiting on paperwork. I have applied for one job but am not holding my breath on that one. Otherwise, I'm in a holding pattern.

I was invited along on an amazing trip to go down the Middle Salmon river in Idaho. After much deliberation I decided that I needed to stay here and job hunt. It was a difficult decision but I'm really glad I decided to stay. It was during last week that I was told I'm not ready to apply for jobs until I get this new piece of paper from Utah. I would have been more of a wreck this week if I had just found this out. Thanks to all of my super friends for understanding.

So with me working during the week that left the weekends free to go kayaking. I was able to talk my buddy Hunter into an afternoon run down South Silver. He hasn't been in a boat much recently especially on Class 5 but he did AWESOME. Check him out below.

What a boof!

I also, went on a two day trip down the Waterfall section of Dinkey Creek. I've been waiting to do this run for years and it did not disappoint. This run was very committing with many waterfalls that had to be run. Some were unportageable!

It started with a HOT two hour hike down to the creek.

The put-in rapid. It was just a hint as to what was around the corner.

One of the many waterfalls. This one did have a sieve just a few meters down stream from the picture edge. SCARY! Photo by Anthony

This run epitomizes the concept of team work. Photo by Anthony

Anthony took this picture from his boat of another of Dinkey's perfect waterfalls.

Rick going deep. There weren't too many rapids that were "gimmies".

Rod showing off his perfect boof stroke.

Ben Zuppo running a committing drop that required a well timed brace. This one was like being shot out of a water cannon.

Just the bottom half of Willie's drop. Most everyone took a hit at the bottom. Just an absolutely beautiful drop.

Lastly, just a typical fun drop on Dinkey.

We had ten people total on this run so it was a large party for such a small creek. I can highly recommend this run if you're up for running big slides and waterfalls above sieves. No really it was a super good run. One that I will run again when I'm feeling ready to huck some carcass.

Well, I better get off of the computer and continue my harassment of our local government workers. I'll keep you posted as to the job hunting.

Tim

We're up the duff again!

For those of you we have not told yet, Tim and I are excited to announce that we are 3 months preggers! We are feeling really good about this one. Today, I had my 12 wk scan and it was so amazing to see this tiny little creature jumping all around in me.

While it is still too early to determine the sex, it appears to be part alien. I guess we'll just have to wait until Dec 26th to find out. Yes, that's right the day after Christmas.

Yes I am getting some of my Cali kayaking fix between looking for work and all of the other 100 things I have to do

If you like this picture that Dan took of me and another buddy on a local run here in California then check out the link to the rest of them on the Riot kayak blog page.

http://teamriot.blogspot.com/
Look for June 1st if it's not on the top of the page.

Don't think that just because I've moved back to the states that means the end of my blogging by the way. I'm just trying to think of a more appropriate name for the blog. Adventures Downunder just doesn't fit for too much longer. Any suggestions loyal readers?

Half here in the States, half still in Oz

Greetings loyal blog readers. I know it's been some time since my last post. Sorry for that. I've been busy. I arrived back 3 weeks ago to start looking for a job. I have one prospect so far and a lot of districts telling me that they are not hiring right now... and may not hire this summer! I'm a bit nervous about that but I know I'll find something.

The good news is that I finished my Master's degree! I'm pretty stoked to have that finished with and I feel good about accomplishing something with my time while living in Australia. I think I'm going to go kayaking to celebrate today!

In a few days I'll head up to Norm and Shirley's to hang out for a few days and get the VW all sorted so that I have a car again. Hunter and Lori have been kind enough to lend me one of their cars and it's been great. Thanks guys.

I thought I'd end this e-mail with some pics that Lora sent me yesterday. No not those pictures! She was folding laundry and when she grabbed her jeans she was a bit shocked to realize just how much weight she's lost. I thought the pictures were amusing more because she felt she needed to take a few pics and send them to me. Now if I could only figure out a way to get her to send me pictures when she's holding up jeans while wearing nothing at all! Yes, I miss my wife. Sorry.

Too bad she didn't lose the weight eating Subway sandwiches or we could be rich from the advertisement. Oh well.