TO THE EPIC

Thailand: Trent Update

2009-06-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

So Trent is starting to do better. He's been on Dialysis now for a several days and that has really helped out on his kidney numbers. He is still very high, ie he has about 5 times the toxins in his system than he should. His liver has returned to nearly normal. One of the complications of all this illness is he has contracted the pneumonia. His lungs have been filling with fluid and the doctors have removed about 11 liters of fluid from his lungs over the past four days. They are giving him anti-biotics for any infections to the system that he may be experiencing.

The hospital care is amazing here. That facilities are comparable to what is standard in the U.S., but the personal care is over the top. Trent has 3 nurses taking care of just him. The price of care here is about 20% of that in the states. I think we should start importing mass amounts of Thai nurses.

Today was his best day for sure. He was sitting up, talking normally, and even joking around a bit.

Trent is truly a remarkable person. The day before this incident happened was the day he spent several hundred dollars on food, toys, school supplies, and a trip to the zoo for 17 orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. Hopefully that karma will swing back around for a quick full recovery.

The doctors and nurses are very confident about his recovery and his health has followed their predictions thus far very closely.

He really appreciates all of you that have prayed, sent some Karma, an email, or whatever to show you care. Thanks for all your concern, Trent sends his best.

Explorasia

2009-05-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hey...I'm cruising asia for a couple of months at a first attempt at making a documentary with a team of friends. We've created a separate blog for the epic voyage. Check it out at work, if you are bored and facebook has lost its flava flav.

Best,
Jentry

http://southeastasiadoc.blogspot.com/

Bull Poker

2009-03-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

While I was living in Logan, my buddy Mikol, tamed this bull while playing this amazing rodeo game, BULL POKER. This was from a year or so ago, but I just finished editing the video. Good job Mike...no prisoners. This has to go down as a pinnacle moment of cache valley life... i know it was for me.

Little Cottonwood to Big to Millcreek

2009-02-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

So Mark's Greenwood and I toured from Little Cottonwood to Big to Millcreek. It was gorgeous to link all three canyons. We started in the upper Alta parking lot and went over Cardiff Ridge. Here's Mark monopolizing some turns in Little.

We did a lap on this shot and skied this really long shot down to the Spruces campground. There is so much amazing terrain back there that rarely gets toured. The best part of the day was when Mark dropped this quick shot and it turned vertical to a mandatory drop; sadly no video. This is a video of me right before Mark's gap shot and drop.

We then skied this basin's gully to the spruces campground; gully type skiing. After a stopover at the heated bathrooms of the spruces, we crossed the street up Mil D to Reynold's peak. A lap on that and then off the North face of Reynold's to a web of evergreens and popped out at the Yurt in Millcreek.

Overall it was so fun. My only recommendation if you do this tour is watch hot spots for blisters. I came out of this with a blister the size of Narnia (which is hella-big considering Narnia isn't even real).

Song of the day:

Missionary Chronicles

2009-01-27T14:59:00.001-08:00

This is a pretty funny commercial that strikes home for me. I used this technique all the time out there. The pop-a-wheely is so smooth..ZOW!

Winter '09

2009-01-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

Is it global warming? Earth cycles? What's going on this winter? No matter what's going on we've had an amazingly sketchy winter for in and out of resort skiing. When I tour the wasatch all I see are unstable conditions. Layers of brick over potato chips; mostly caused by wind loading and thermal cycles. This image was taken after the fatal slide on Logan peak. Check out how it pulled all the way to the ground. The observers said the slide was about 2000 ft wide. A few weeks ago another slide pulled over two snowboarders near Pioneer Ridge just outside of Brighton boundries. That slide was 8 ft deep and snapped this kid's board in half...luckily he walked away. Tomorrow I see it's potentially raining at Alta. Rain in mid January at 10,000 ft in Utah. Who knows what's going on? This is a great resource for info on global warming. It has a pretty non-bias approach on the subject. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ Regardless, please be safe out there. Here are some great videos of Chase and Garrett terrorizing the wasatch...ZOW!

Identity Crisis

2008-12-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

If you ever feel you're having some kind of identity crisis. Don't worry...this guy is having a harder time.

Launch Abort Static Fire

2008-11-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

So I've had a few conversations with many of you about this Launch Abort System I've been doing at work for the past few years. This week we had a big milestone event where we tested the first prototype. Here are a couple of videos/articles from the event that explain pretty well what we've been up to.

Cheers

This is a video from Fox News (copy and paste into your url...the quick link isn't working)

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7914213&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

The Standard Examiner

http://www.standard.net/live/news/149105

Reflections of 29....29....29

2008-11-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today I was on CNN.com and read through the "Young People that Rock" section. This is a group of people that do amazing things for the bettering of humanity by the age of 30. Each has a profile, some strength, some weakness, but all are powerful.

"ZOW...that's only a year away", I said to myself sitting in a fluorescent lamp office space.

Does any one have any good ideas? Or maybe, has anyone done anything really impressive that I could 'borrow' and make it on CNN?

Renaissance Pioneer

2008-09-28T20:23:00.001-07:00

So I’ve recently moved to the downtown Salt Lake area. I live only a block or so away from Pioneer Park. Despite the name, the park is not full of pioneers but homeless people. I suppose pioneers in a non-traditional sense.

After church today I swung by the supermarket to do some stealthy Sabbath breaking. As I walked up to the market, one of these renaissance pioneers was staring me down in my suit. I was perplexed. As I came closer he looked me in the eye and said, “You’re shoes don’t match”. I jokingly mocked that they don’t match each other. He wipped his head back, rolled his eyes, and explained my shoes clash with my suit color. I bought both the suit and the shoes in Italy. I suppose I had thought that was what made them match.

“Well, what do you recommend?”

“Black…duh!!”

I gave him a dollar for his wisdom and wrote this haiku.

Renaissance pioneer;
Life torn and brittle
Out fashions engineer.

Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back Race

2008-07-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Adam T. Neville organized a group of 12 to run the Wasatch Back Relay Race from Logan to Park City through the mountains covering about 180 miles. We finished in about 28 hours and pained with ailment. It was great. Likely planning on it again next year...come and get it if you're interested....ZOW!

Cody Nicklaus Miskin Graduates

2008-06-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Big day in the Miskin family this weekend. Cody, my brother of 17 tender years, graduates from High School. I flew out to Santa Rosa for the event. It was great to see him jazzed for the event.
We also had Peggy's annual fundraiser for breast cancer event, great golf games, and a Giants game where the Giants took the Padres in extra innings. Good times!

Escalante over Memorial Day 08

2008-06-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Over the memorial day weekend a big crew from Logan and Salt Lake went to Escalante to backpack and hike around Coyote Gulch, Calf Creek Falls, and some slots. Here's the video...it was epic!

I couldn't extract Sarah's singing from video; so here it is in video.

Kauai 07

2008-05-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Adam, Cameron, and I bummed around Hawaii last year for 10 days or so. Good times.

An unexpected visitor

2008-05-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

Walked out to work in the yard and found this dead deer between my bedroom window and the AC unit in the backyard. Between dry heaving and hoisting, Adam and Mark pulled it out while Andrea's filming, Jocelyn offering some moral support and I'm sandbagging and dry heaving in the background....ZOW!

Ancient Arts

2008-04-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

After a restful night sleep in a washed out river bottom we rose to an overcast sky glooming over Fisher Towers. After muddling through racks of cams and stoppers for 40 minutes and watching doctors poach our early attempt, we made the 20 minute stroll through red sand to stand at her feet .

Here's the climb, Ancient Arts (5.10d). There's a person in the middle to give perspective.
We simul-climbed the first pitch over mud clauds and Dr. Seuss-ian Hoodoos.
Chase cruised up the second pitch with ease stemming across a body width chimney. I was pleasantly surprised to be showered by mud debris.

I led the third pitch which became a little thin (this is the 10d part), nothing that can't be solved by cheating a bit with a little help from a strategically placed quickdraw.

Then the fourth pitch is the grandmaster mother of all exposure. Chase led it with confident ease and I pleaded with the almighty for avoidance of a high mountain rescue from the belay station. This leads to the top out on the corkscrew, gorgeous and scary....so scary.

Water Testing

2008-04-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

Just testing the water