39. Play a round of some drinking game I am too old to play (i.e. beer pong, quarters, anchor man, kings)

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we had some friends over and ate a wonderful meal. Joo cooked us corned beef and cabbage which was amazing!!!! We caught up with friends we haven't seen in too long... we spent more time with friends we are lucky to see on a regular basis... AND I crossed off one more off my list. I learned two very important lessons on this night. One, I learned that beer pong is still fun. Two, drinking heavily on a week day stays with me for FAR longer than ever before. I guess if I didn't believe the "...that I am too old to play..." part of this title before, it is crystal clear now!!!

16. See Vince play a gig, 40. Go out drinking with friends from Oakley, 42. Go to a concert or sporting event with X

On Thursday, Joo and I went down to Laguna Beach to see STRAIGHT 78 play at Ocean Ave. It was a special performance because the lead singer (Rob Gallas) lost his father recently and this gig was a tribute to him. It was great to be able to support Rob, who works at Oakley, with other co-workers. Also, Vince Portillo played with Rob's band for the evening which made it even better. AND, I went to Vince's gig with Xavier Limon which meant I could cross off another on my list!!!!

For those who don't know Vince, I will do my best to describe him. He is the type of guy that is always cracking jokes at work no matter the situation. Even in his interview, he was asked about the fact that he had "weight lifting" listed as a hobby to which he responded "...more like 'weight management' now!" and always adds his self-depricating descriptions of his "moobs" and how he frequents the "short and fat" store. In all seriousness, he is a great friend who has been wonderful to work with. He has twin boys and a beautiful wife and yet somehow finds time for his band/other gigs. He is a multi-instrumentalist (its a word... I swear) with his own band GYPSY DOLLS as well as offers casino services when he is not a DJ.

On Friday, Oakley said goodbye to Amy Ezell. To celebrate her time with us, we went to one of our favorite bars which is REALLY close to where I work. It is a small but friendly place where I was able to cross off #40 go out drinking with friends from Oakley. Although it was sad to say goodbye to Amy, it was nice to spend some time "outside of work" with Todd and other co-workers. We will miss you Amy!!!!

Even though I crossed these three off my list today, I definitely plan on repeating all three in the soon future.

36. Beat Chris or Alan 3 times in a row in racquetball

Now I am not sure exactly how Chris felt as I won my third game in a row but I imagine it felt something like the red player in the graphic above trying to defend shots from all different angles. Truth be told, I have played Chris a lot and outside of the last couple games, it has been really even but I will still take my opportunity to gloat a little based on my current streak. It is currently at 4... I will keep you posted. Alan... YOU ARE NEXT!!!!!

8. Go snowboarding with friends in Mammoth, Happy Bday Katie D. & Fun with dogs

We had our first trip to Mammoth this month which we got to celebrate Katie D's birthday and it gave us some firsts. We were really happy to spend time with Katie for her birthday! We got to hang out with her at their cabin and have a fun a delicious dinner at shogun. It was my first time snowboarding with Joo which was a lot of fun. The dogs also LOVED the snow. Rusty had been in the snow before but it was Kona's first time and he could not get enough. Speaking of not being able to get enough. Schat's bakery in Bishop has the BEST chili cheese bread. I miss it already. We didnt have our camera's with us so our phones had to suffice. Enjoy!!!

37. Cook Joo a nice dinner

The combination of celebrating Valentine's Day and trying to save money gave me the perfect opportunity to cross #37 cook Joo a nice dinner off my list. For anyone who Joo has cooked dinner for, it is a tall task to try and match her culinary skills. For help, I reached out to the Food Network (Giada De Laurentis to be exact) to find recipes that were 1. simple enough for a culinary ruh-tard and 2. tasted good. What I found was flaming filet mignon with chive butter with baked mashed potatoes with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and asparagus and smoked salmon bundles. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Unfortunately, Joo is now expecting me to cook more... I did NOT think this through

11. Go mountain biking with Will & 12. Take pictures of friends taking part in activities they love

Today we rode a trail called 3 "B"'s... well, the "B"'s stand for something but I wont divulge the true meaning. I will, however say that there are 3 very large steep hills which were a real "B" to ride up. I will also say that although I am short on gear, I did wear shorts which were padded in the seat but my "A" still hurts like hell. It was a lot of fun to go Mountain biking with Will and Todd today and to see Will do something he is so good at doing. Will goes so fast down the same runs I have to walk down and does it so effortlessly. Going WAY faster than anyone else out there and seems to be in more control too. Todd HATES the climbs but he definitely has skills left over from his '84-'86 heydays (we saw pics of some serious "donkey basketball" moves from his high school days last week). He really charges the downhills, drops, and jumps and does really well (pays for it too sometimes but not too much today). Hope you like the action shots

FEEDBACK NEEDED: Which photo to blow up

On our trip to Australia and New Zealand, I was able to take a lot of pictures and I am planning on blowing up a couple. It would help me a lot to get feedback from people as to which ones you like or think would look the best blown up and framed. If you have read my blog, one of my "50 in 500" things to do was to blow up some pictures I take. Thanks for the help!!! Hope you like them

Image #1: Queenstown - Great lighting but with really dark clouds ahead. This one is very unique

Image #2: Mirror Lake: Nice mix of mountains and lake. The waters are so dark it doesn't seem like you should be able to see through it. It has a very cool effect

Image #3: Waterfall at Milford Sound - I love the lighting and green color in this photo. It is hard to tell just how massive this is but it is over 400 ft. One of my favorites for sure

Image #4: Mossy trees near Lake Makenzie on the Routeburn Track - So much of the track seemed almost like a fairytale land with the deep green moss on the trees and rock. Really hard to get a good photo because of it but this turned out pretty good.

Image #5&6: Harris Lake - These were taken with my wide angle lens (10-22). I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I put them both. I really like the depth in these photos. We were standing on one mountain taking photos of another mountain and valley... impossible to grasp the scale from a photo but these do the best job.

Image #7: Routeburn Track - This is one of my favorites without a doubt. It is so unique with the dark snow-capped mountains in the background and the green in the foreground. The trail is really cool looking at this part of the trail too. Great color... not to mention my lovely wife Joo adding a sense of scale to the mountains and trail.

Image #8: Routeburn Valley - This was one of the most breathtaking views we saw and this photo captures it best. I really love how the valley looks between the very green mountains on both sides. These were the types of views that made New Zealand the kind of place I will never tire returning to.

Image #9: Huka Falls - This is one of the more unique photos I took. It is hard to take long exposures during the day let alone when the sun is so bright like it was on this day. I am really happy how the water turned out... you can really see each rapid.

Image #10: Wai-o-tapu geothermal wonderland - I am actually surprised I only chose one from this lake. There were so many that turned out great. This one is my favorite because of how vivid the reflection is and how great the sky looks. The color and steam were so neat to look at here.

Image #11: The forest in Wai-o-tapu - This one reminds me of Lord of the Rings. The ferns at the bottom and light through the trees made this one of my favorites while it was still in my viewfinder. I was really surprised with how good this one came out.

Image #12&13: Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House - I always love when long exposures come out well. They are difficult to get right and you really need the right site and conditions. We were pretty blessed in Sydney and these turned out very good. I really love these especially the bridge shot.