Collecting Coal for Christmas

Today I woke up and on my way out the door stopped by my office to get the trophy to give to Josh, but it wasn't on my desk.  Those dang kids!  I realized I should have hidden it.  It looks like an action figure and probably irresistible to a little kid.  So I looked all over the house.  Nowhere!  I woke up Oliver and asked him to help me find it, but he was so out of it he was no use at all.  I spent a good 15 minutes looking for it and was already severely late to meet up with Josh at the Marina.  I looked in a box that was by the door on my way out and there it was at the bottom of the box.... in three pieces!

"Get the glue!"

I felt like the Dad in Christmas Story when his lamp was broken.  I was in a rage and wanted someone to pay!  It was still too early to wake all the kids up and find the responsible party, but I highly suspect the same kid that went running through the sprinklers with my Ipod.  Apparently he didn't learn his lesson to keep his hands off Dad's stuff!  There's gonna be some correction dished out tonight!  Before I left this morning I quickly went online and ordered a duplicate trophy and had it shipped directly to Josh to avoid any further delays.

I got to the marina at 7am and got in the water for a 2 mile lap of Gridley's Straight.  Josh was already in the water, but I never did see him.  We must have passed without realizing it.  When I got to Black Rock the water temp dropped a good 10 degrees (I bet its well below 70° now).  I saw a big round black rock that looked like a piece of coal.  I picked it up and packed it along with me for the swim back.

The perfect Christmas gift
for a naughty little boy -
A rock from the bottom of
the Great Salt Lake!

It's a perfect gift for Christmas for a naughty little boy.  It might not be a piece of coal, but a rock from the bottom of the Great Salt Lake will definitely do.

Total Distance: 2.25 miles
Time: 1:05

My shoulders are feeling fantastic!  I'm a little sore in my upper lats, but I'm definitely doing fine.  Should be back at 100% within a week.  Today's swim was awesome.  I just went nice and easy with long relaxed strokes and it was just what the doctor ordered!  It also allowed me to let the steam bubble out of my ears from this morning's rage induced episode.