Gold Chains and Jet Skis

...for all my friends", to quote Dr. Will from Big Brother 2...

Today we had VBS at church. It wound up being a little lackluster because not very many kids showed up and none came in from the community. We still had a good time and all, but everyone was just a little deflated.

However, I spied two jet skis trailered to a young couple's SUV that go to our church. I asked Mike and Becky how long they had them and they told me that they just purchased them this week. They were going to go out to Lake Wappapello with Becky's brother Billy to try 'em out and see how well they work. They invited me to go out to the lake with them after VBS was over and of course, I took them up on the offer.

So we get out to the lake. We gingerly back the SUV and PWCs down the LONG boat ramp into the water and get the boats untethered from the trailer. One was a Sea-Doo, the other was a Polaris. Mike got on board the Polaris and it started to sink a little. He got this panicked look on his face and shouted "Becky! Did you get the plugs put back in?" She said she didn't do it, and I was like, "Get off the jetski before you sink it, man!" So he jumps off. Turns out the plugs were in, the boat just has a shallow draft.

Billy boarded the Sea-Doo and fired it right up. Mike reboarded the Polaris and all it did was crank with no fire. We checked to make sure that it wasn't water-locked and the battery was good, but no fire. A guy who was loading up his PWCs came over and pulled the spark plugs. All 3 were totally fouled. He gave us some spares and the thing still wouldn't fire. Smelled like fuel, like it was flooded. The choke control was broken (no EFI on this beast), so we figured the choke was locked wide open and flooding the engine. So we brought the trailer back down and loaded the Polaris back up and decided to take turns riding the Sea-Doo. The three of them were sooo mad that the Polaris didn't work, mostly because their Dad didn't want them to buy the boats and they were going to have to go to his boat mechanic to get it fixed. I was like, hey, you've got one working jetski, it's 80 degrees, the water's 80 degrees, and there's no traffic on the lake! What are you complaining about again?

Had a blast. Got the PWC up to about 55 MPH. This one had a fancy electronic trim system that I've never seen on a PWC before, which was great when we were riding tandem. You could adjust it to full plane at speed and just supercruise across the water or back it off to no plane and hit the waves with aplomb. Killer ride.

Still managed to dump myself and Billy by taking a tight S-turn a little too fast, but that's half the fun! Unlike the Sea-Doo I dumped 11 years ago, this one didn't water-lock and we got it started again. Good jetski. Now I want to trade my car in for a decent tow vehicle and buy a boat now!

Smashing Pumpkins

This is a few days late, so bear with me. On Sunday, I roll up to Cape G to get my hair cut at the local Great Clips. I was killing some time afterwards, so I went over to the Best Buy. I spied the newest Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist, on sale for $9.99, according to the sign. So I picked one up and made my purchase without really paying attention to the cashier. I looked at the receipt and they charged me $11.99 for the CD!

So I went over to the return counter and told them that the sign said $9.99 but it was sold to me at the higher price. The girl behind the register tells me that's last weeks price. I'm like, I don't care, the sign is still up and it's also undated. So she proceeds to flip out and goes over and rips the sign down. She also asks another associate quite pointedly whether she should refund my money! The other associate is like, yeah, you better!

So I got my $2.15 back with a little fight. Over nothing. Thank you BestBuy!

Old Nauvoo, meet New Nauvoo

Wow, almost a month since the last post.

I went to Nauvoo this week for a few days of nice vacation away from the grind. My sister and brother-in-law were also finishing up their move from Kirtland to Nauvoo, so I helped out with moving furniture around the house and hooking up their sundry home entertainment equipment when the rest of the furniture arrived. I'm so glad they had movers for the big stuff.

It actually seemed kind of slow in Nauvoo this week. When I was a student guide nine years ago, it seemed like it was jumpin' around the fourth. Maybe the luster of the LDS reconstruction of the Temple has worn off, or the "Historic" Zion's Mercantile (?) just isn't the draw the Mormons thought it would be, but it just seemed a little slower around town this week.

Good times, though. Saw a lot of people who were there nine years ago and actually remembered who I was back then. Walked and drove around the sites I fell in love with and brought me back to the church I felt so far away from my first year in college. A very peaceful place. I think I'm going to enjoy visiting my family in Nauvoo now. It won't be the same as visiting them in Kirtland, but there's a special place in my heart for that 1998 summer in Nauvoo and it'll be nice to revisit that place every time I return in the future.