• Divine Office: Liturgy of the Hours (includes audio)
• eBreviary: Liturgy of the Hours
• Universalis.

Smoked Pumpkin Ale.

Christmas moose.

Candle.

Cold, biker Di.

IMBA socks.

Flowers.

Coriander’s Lambchop.

Black bear nativity.

Quiet Christmas.

I lent my Jamis to new Tree Farmer, Vikki. Unfortunately, the front tire was flat when I loaded the bike into my Pathfinder, so I found time during my busy work schedule to put some air in the tube. I think the problem is a leaky valve. I think I’ll get many more miles out of this tube.

It was pretty cool watching the line of lights flowing backward through the trail.

Riding along the future home of new pine trees?

This reminded me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

They’re heeeeere. Oh, wait, that’s Poltergeist.

Tree Farmers.

More Tree Farmers.

A shot of Jager for the originals.

As some of you also know, last night’s Powerball lottery thingamajigger was pretty huge, so lots of people were buying tickets. I don’t foresee myself ever being rich, so I donate my lottery money to beer because, well, you can drink beer, and lottery tickets really don’t taste that good; not to mention that they contain chemicals that don’t exactly file them in the “organic” category. I came across Sean’s Facebook post regarding said Powerball and felt that Sean needed a serious reality check.

Another crazy person (Steve Vigneau).

And another crazy person (me).

I never rode this bridge before this day, but I nailed it and loved it thanks to Ray’s.

The Lake Salad at the Lakeville Inn in Leonard minus the onion with grilled chicken added. The dressing was a thick balsamic glaze. My accompanying beverages were a lot of iced tea for hydration, and a glass of Apothic Red wine for dessert.

Happy Tree Farmers at the Novi Ice Arena.

My rental hockey skates—super comfy, and just like skate skiing, except no hills.

This is the warning sign we read after we skated.

My Trek Mullet for a day.

Loren gave me a tour of the bike park before turning me lose to attack whichever obstacles grabbed my interest. After 30 minutes of following him into the beginner room, along the cross country track, and up to the “Sport” area, the bike felt pretty good and I was ready to head off on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I still had some apprehension about where to go and whether I could ride anything, but following Loren on a long skinny—sure, it was only a couple of inches off of the ground—helped me to gain a little confidence.

Sport area.

Mark and Justin in the Sport area.

After a while, I got quite confident on the bike and was taking the downhill on the cross country loop from the rafters down over the pump track and through the corner pretty fast. Each time I went down that hill, I hit the corner bank higher and higher. At one point, after going around the bank, I didn’t turn far enough to the right and hit the end of my handlebar on the wall. That was almost an “oh, shit” moment. Of course, in my usual awesome form, I managed to execute a nice save.

Justin and Loren led me up to the pump track. It was incredibly tiring, but also incredibly fun. It was kind of like riding the Outer Limits loop at Michigan Tech with the respect that I was suckered into doing it so many times because it was just too damn fun.

Loren riding the pump track.

Justin riding the pump track. The three guys riding on the red track are entering the Sport area. I loved riding this part of the track because I would pump through that section really fast and then hit the berm at the end really fast. That was way too much. I probably wouldn’t have gone to the Sport area so much if it wasn’t for that little section.

I practiced some of the skinnies in different areas and gained a little more courage than I had before coming to Ray’s. I rode four lines in the Sport section, but just couldn’t bring myself to ride any of the teeter totters. I guess I’ll have to try those next time.

For shits and giggles—okay, purely for the purpose of being a smart ass—I turned on Strava for a lap around the bike park. Apparently, I’m the first to do it.

One thing I really liked about Ray’s was the classic rock they were pumping through the place, but there can be too much of a good thing. After lunch, I rode the cross country loop—again—and while I was riding through the beginner room, I noticed that no one was in there and I couldn’t really hear any music. I rode up on the platform, leaned my bike against the rail, and sat on the platform. I just sat there enjoying the quiet. It got to the point where I had to decompress (typical introvert quality). I took several pictures of the room, mostly because cartoonesque agricultural pictures were painted on the walls, and cows make me laugh, especially cartoon cows. Loren rode through and caught me slacking, but by that time, I was ready to get back up. I followed him into a room that had some lower skinnies to play on along with some different bridges. Thanks for the encouragement, Loren.

Beginner room.

Beginner room. Cows. Chicken.

I rode one line in the Expert section, but that was because I followed Mark D. up there—we were going to roll over the jumps in the Expert section, but didn’t get that far. I rode one line that goes into an “elevator,” lowers, and then exits onto some winding, narrow skinnies. Fortunately, the skinnies were only a couple of inches off of the floor, so I bailed.

Later on, Justin took me to the Expert jumps. A group of guys were hanging out at the entrance and were incredibly supportive. One even followed me through the course and told me that I did a great job. Of course, rolling over jumps isn’t that big of a feat, but it did take some courage to get myself into that situation. I even hit the Red Bull bank and was surprised at how easy it was. It was so cool! I think I rode that section three times.

The Red Bull bank in the Expert jump section.

I sat in a chair and kicked up my feet for a bit of a cat nap. I thought that I could go back out and ride, but it just wasn’t happening. Loren led me into the “rhythm room” and through a route in there. I was going to try the cross country loop before changing back into my regular clothes, but I knew I didn’t have the energy to climb up into the rafters again. Too bad, because the downhill was so much fun.

Rhythm room.

Rhythm room.

We all went to the Fat Heads Brewery afterward for beer and food. There wasn’t much on the menu for someone like me, so I opted for a club sandwich. Unfortunately, it was served on a ridiculous bun. I ate half the sandwich and took the rest home. I had 1/4 for breakfast the next day and ended up throwing the rest away with the chips—a shame, but I’m not supposed to be eating that much bread and chips. It was okay, but I dare say that there are probably better options in Cleveland. The beer was good, though! I tried their Sunshine Daydream Session IPA and their Brown Ale. The IPA was okay, but I really liked the Brown Ale.

It was a very long three-hour journey home. I got home at a decent time, showered, and went to bed. As I lay there, I thought, “I really want to try that cross country loop again!”

I decided that I had enough of picking away at the earth carefully crafting super sweet singletrack and decided to head out with the bridge crew. Pete was very cool and taught me how to use some of the power tools.

But first, we had to warn trail users that we were in the process of making the trail safer for them.

Pete cut the new posts to the correct length for supporting the bridge.

The fallen tree did some serious damage to the previous posts.

The bridge crew hard at work.

Mack trying to figure out how to work the wrench.

The finished product.

Oh, look! The other way!

Admiring the bridge from afar.

CRPT is happy once again.

A lonely generator waits for its owner.

CRPT: home of the squirrelly tree monkey.

Nick found out where the beer was.

Most job seekers immediately display these undesirable traits and never get invited to an interview. Others make it to the interview, but quickly grate on the interviewers’ nerves. Some get uninvited from the interview because of how they interact with the employer beforehand. In fact, one’s inability to get a job often has nothing to do with one’s skills set or resume. Here are five things you can do to ruin your chance of getting an interview; or if you get an interview, to quickly get uninvited.

1. Call the employer when the employer tells you to email instead. Most job announcements are quite clear about the employer’s preferred method of contact. If the ad says, “No phone calls,” do not call . . . unless you don’t want the job.
2. Waste the employer’s time with rambling and storytelling. Employers are busy people who need to cut straight to the point. If you are called to schedule an interview, do not ramble about how you need to find transportation or about other scheduling conflicts. If there is a scheduling conflict, briefly explain that there may be a scheduling conflict and let the employer know that you will call if you cannot make the interview. If brevity is not your strong point, then don’t be surprised if the employer withdraws the invitation to the interview.
3. Contact the employer many times with no clear purpose. Do not call an employer three times in one day because you are trying to figure things out. If a phone call is necessary, wait until you have a plan. In most cases, the employer does not need to hear about your problems and your plans, only that you will be where the employer expects you to be.
4. Tell the employer there is something wrong with their advertisement, file attachment, or anything else before exhausting all other resources. Can’t open that PDF? Trying installing Adobe Acrobat Reader. Having other technical issues or thinking that something doesn’t make sense? Reread it, search for computer fixes, or ask a friend. Do not call the employer unless you have verified that there is a legitimate mistake, unless you don’t want the interview.
5. Tell the employer more than what is asked. One very successful interview trick implemented by interviewers is to let the interviewee answer the question, then sit there quietly looking at the interviewee until he or she feels pressured to keep talking. This usually works. Unwise job candidates always provide more information than asked, and it’s usually the juicy stuff that employers cannot legally ask, but they will certainly use that information to weed out the candidate if the candidate freely shares it.

If you actually want the interview—and the job—avoid making these mistakes. These aren’t simply “little things,” but incredibly common annoyances that plague recruiters. Avoid these mistakes and you will be well on your way to getting the interview as a smart, focused candidate with the ability to solve your own problems.

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