Homemade Peanut Butter!

I was on the farm a few weeks ago (one of my friend's grandparent's), and I had the privilege to delight in homemade peanut butter. It was amazing. It was one of those things where you feel like it is so simple and you have missed out your entire life! Duh, was the reaction I had. So, how do you make it you ask... well, if you have a food processor or even a blender you can make homemade peanut butter too! The ingredients: Peanuts (Crazy, I know!). That is it. All you need are peanuts and a blender. So, that is what I am doing tonight. Why not spend your Sunday night blending up 5 pounds of peanuts? It is so simple (actually I haven't made it yet, just sounds easy) and I will be sure to update you if that changes.

I thought I would add some of my pics from the farm for you to enjoy! One of the highlights was playing the accordion. What a rush. It is an instrument that has been looked over and deemed obsolete, uninspiring, and downright frumpy. I would beg to differ.

Internship: Week One

I have officially completed an entire week of my 15 week internship at Advanced Fitness & Performance. AFP is a business that does specifically personal training (that's what I want to do). If you were a client and came in...this is what a typical workout would look like: You walk in, warm up on an elliptical or treadmill for about 8-10 minutes and then you get your workout. This is where it gets good. Your workout is specifically designed for you and your training status. Very rarely does anyone get the exact same workout that they have done previously, unless there is a purpose behind it. So, if you know what the names of all the exercises are, you pretty much do your workout by yourself with minimal assistance. If you are newer, then you will get mainly one on one time with a trainer depending on how many people are there. Typically there are about 2-6 people working out at a time, so it is a small place. AFP also is one of only a few places in the Midwest that has the Gravity Training Systems. This is probably my favorite part. The Gravity Training System, or GTS, is similar to the Total Gym that Chuck Norris endorsed a while back. It is just a more commercialized and industrial machine. The combination of gravity working against you (or with you, however you see it) with your own body weight makes for a killer workout. You can manage to get a full body or sectional workout (arms, legs, abs) in under 30 minutes and not be able to walk the next day. It's that good.

I have always been entertained by those people whose occupations provide a lot of good stories to tell people. I am becoming one of those people. I can not believe how many good stories come out of purely awkward situations! Yesterday, there wasn't an awkward situation, but someone told me that I should maybe consider being a comedian over a personal trainer. I was flattered and said I might consider it for a part-time job, get some extra cash. I was actually making fun of his push-up form. At first he was like, "seriously, this is soo easy." And then on his second set (out of 3 total) was shaking from fatigue.

Snowboarding 101

I went on my first snowboarding trip late last week. I thought it would be a nice way to end my winter break with a bang. And it did.

The morning began at 5:20AM. Got ready, headed to a friend's house about 45 minutes away, and then headed to Minneapolis in the infamous "Blue Paradise". BP was the ride of choice--well, it seated 7 people, so it was perfect in that respect. BP did have a heater, however, floor heating was inadequate and the outside temperature must have had something to do with the cool floor temp. I'm not sure if you have experienced cold feet lately, but there is just something about it that makes you miserable. Your entire body can be at optimal temperature, but the second your feet start freezing, you're gone.

We finally arrived at Afton Alps, got our lift tickets, rented a board and got on the good ole bunny hill. There were many challenges from the day, so let's just start them off now...

CHALLENGE #1: The Ski Lift
Getting on the ski lift isn't too bad, but the anticipation of getting off is terrible. I was planning the whole time how to do it that I couldn't even think of what direction to go once I got off.

CHALLENGE #2: Getting Up
Once you have your feet strapped in this thing...you are completely immobile. The thing about snowboards I've learned, is that they have this intrinsic ability to make a fool of anyone. You get half way up...and then just fall down. Repeat 9 times. Once I got up I made it about 10 feet, fell, and then did everything all over until I found the bottom of the the hill.

CHALLENGE #3: Black Diamond
After ONE run through of Nancy's Nursery (the bunny hill is seriously called that, I'm not sure how they could have made the name any more humiliating) I got some encouragement from my friends to go on a green slope. They told me it was exactly the same as the bunny hill, just longer. This sounded good, so we headed up another lift. A friend and I were on the lift together and she was giving me pointers and then ended by telling me to go to the left and she would go to the right.

What she meant was she was to stay to the right and I was to go to the left down the hill by myself. What I interpreted that as was so we wouldn't run into each other. But, those directions didn't really matter because I can't steer a snowboard anyways and just ended up going right with her. I felt Like I was holding them back, so I said you just go down, I will watch, then give it a shot. So, I started down the hill, picked up some speed, started turning in wrong directions, my board caught on the ground and my face made really good friends with the ground. But...this while this was all happening, my friend Morgan was on the ski lift watching and yelling at me to stop. But did I hear her? No, way. That would make it all too easy. So she skied down to the rescue and asked what on earth I was doing on the blue hill right next to the black diamond! Yikes! Well, the story just goes on from there and it took about 20 minutes to tackle the rest of the hill.

SO, I will give you a great visual of my day. It's like in Kung Fu Panda, when he decides to take the challenge of being the dragon warrior...The furious five all take him on and give him a taste of what it is like to be a kung fu master. They relentlessly show their moves and whoop up on him. After each member gets a shot at him and he is laying in a really uncomfortable and unnatural position he is like...."THAT WAS AWESOME!" Exactly my day.

The Great Abyss of Winter Break

I have been on break for a while now, and luckily I have set some goals for myself. I have been learning a lot. Today discovery.com has been teaching me about very important and crucial survival skills. You see, people think that if they really had to perform a certain skill to survive they would be able to fully execute on command. Well, I must be more conservative...or maybe it is because I go to college, but I still believe in good ol' practice and preparation. So, for your benefit and mine, I have made some highlights on how to survive various situations. So here it is:

Situation 1: STRANDED
1. First off, many people do not even know how to use a compass (so I have one up on these yahoos), but this would be an important item to bring on a long hike.
2. Mark tree trunks with the direction you are going so that search teams can find you or you can find your way back.
3. Yell for help. Watch out for rock walls or trees, because these make it difficult to decipher what direction you are yelling from. My only problem with this one is that if you are lost in the woods, the second you find a spot with no trees...you are found, you are in civilization, right?
4. Use a CD to reflect light and get attention. I lose on this one...I would just have my iPod.
5. Now this is the craziest one that I found...Get a chunk of ice. Shape it with the palm of your hand and polish it. When it is clear, hold it perpendicular to the sun and eventually it will create enough heat to start a flame! That is crazy, ice creating fire.

Situation2: How to survive an animal attack
Facts: Bears can weigh up to 1800 lbs.
The bite force from a cougar can crush a human skull
330,000 cougars and bears currently roam in the US.
Let's Learn...
1. Don't feed them. Done.
2. Make noise...don't catch them by surprise. Let them know you are not food. Clap your hands, yell, etc.
3. Freeze. Never turn your back on a cougar or bear. Don't run- they can run 35 mph. No chance.
4. Don't act submissive. Stand tall and slowly/quitely walk away
5. Fight back. That's right. Fight back. Aim your blows in sensitive areas such as the eyes, face, and nose. Use anything you have like a walking stick, rock, or your chuck norris fist.
Bears...
1. Play dead and protect your head and neck.
2. Don't try and climb that tree...they might just follow you up.
3. Once animal is gone, let out a giant sigh of relief... YOU JUST SURVIVED!

El Blogo Numero Uno.

So, it's my first blog. I am transitioning slowly to the real world. I find it fitting to continue sharing my life with others and turn the page to a new chapter entitled: Blogging.


The title of my blog, "Tetelestia", pronounced Tuh-tell-a-sty, are the famous last words that Jesus spoke. Tetelestia (it is finished) is in the perfect tense of the Greek language. The fact that it is in the perfect tense is pretty significant. It means that something happened and it is still in effect today. It is the word you would use when you finish something really significant...like finishing a marathon or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. It means more than just surviving it, it means you did exactly what you set out to do.

So what was finished you ask...well, a lot. All of the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled, the ceremonial law was abolished, sufferings ordained by God were finished, his physical sufferings and life was finished, the price of sin was PAID IN FULL, and the work of redemption was now complete. It is finished. Every sin, covered. The choice is yours, accept or reject. Eternity is at stake.