The REAL Heart Attack In a Can!

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Jake's store

I couldn't get the formatting right to post this with the article so I had to settle for two different posts...the following article was published in a local paper about my brother Jake's new business. We are so happy for Jake and excited to watch his business grow.   They sell electric bikes, scooters, outdoor accessories and will soon sell sunglasses.  We are especially looking forward to our custom "San Luis Rides" shirts we will be getting for Christmas!  We love you Jake!

Article About Jake's Shop

The following article was posted on September 25th, 2008, in the New Times - Volume 23, Issue 8 [ Submit a Story ]

Super clean, green machines

Find a fuel-efficient ride at San Luis Rides. 

KYLIE MENDONCA

Jake Carter wants to change the way people get around town. Change them from hauling themselves to and fro in a gas guzzling car, to scooting as many as 30 miles for the cost of a stick of gum.

“I want everyone to stop driving downtown,” Carter declared. “And, I want every student to stop driving.”

Carter is not strictly anti-automobile, but as he sees it, there’s just no point in driving five miles. His solution to the downtown parking problem, rising gas prices, and rising temperatures, is an electric, or hybrid, or gas, scooter.

ELECTRIC PERSONALITY San Luis Rides owner, Jake Carter, buzzes past traffic on an electric Go-Ped Scooter. PHOTO BY STEVE E MILLER

 Several months ago, when Carter decided to make the switch, he checked out what other local shops were carrying, but couldn’t quite find what he wanted, namely a gas-powered scooter capable of climbing hills, and carrying more than 250 pounds at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Carter ended up getting a Go-Ped, which gets about 100 miles per gallon.

Then he ended up selling them. San Luis Rides has the whole family of scooters from Go-Ped, including electric versions for adults and kids, and even a wagon that attaches to the back of the scooter. Most of the scooters can reach speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour, and only cost a dime or two to charge.

Carter also has I-Zip bikes with an electric assist that kicks in when the rider starts pedaling. They come with front suspension, disc brakes, and an optional internal battery. They also have an internal motor so the bike looks just a normal bike, except that it moves at about 18 miles per hour, even when the rider is scarcely pedaling. I-Zip even makes an off-road model for more adventurous commuters.

While the range for most electric and gas-powered scooters still isn’t great—most can go between 25 and 30 miles between charges—Carter said that scooters make perfect townie rides, and they plug right into the wall.

Take a test drive any day of the week between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 778 Marsh Street, Suite 110 in downtown SLO. Or check out San Luis Rides at the SLO Thursday night Farmers’ Market, starting Oct. 10. For more info, call 548-8881.

I Can't Dance AFV Montage

San Luis Obispo Summer Trip- PART 2

This is a follow up to Part 1.

This is a great little Italian grocery and sandwhich shop where we met and ate with Jake while he was on break from work. I got in trouble for taking the photo. "NO photos please!" "Oh...sorry." "Well, it's because I'm a consultant and..yadda yadda yadda." Jake told me the owner's a bit of a freak and is always griping to her employees so I didn't feel too badly. I will say that she had a lot of really great, authentic Italian stuff and the sandwiches were amazing. In other words, I forgive her for he witchiness. (;

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Carter ran around while we ate. I wish I had the inclination to run around instead of stuff my face more.

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Why does Jake look like he's posing for a magazine here?

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We took the kids down to a park and Carter did his best to prove himself an albino monkey.

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Later that day, or the next perhaps, we went down to the beach. I went in the water but the rest of them were landlubbers. I LOVE swimming, body boarding and body surfing in the ocean. In fact, one of the main things I'd miss by moving away from the coast would be the cold water of the great Pacific.

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Claire before the sand caking.

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Amy and Claire.

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Jake and Amy love the kids. Here they are holding Claire-Bear who, I might add, is an adventurous little beach goer and wants to go IN to the water. (:

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Let it begin!

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After getting out of the water. Sarah laughed at the size of my lips and how my freckles stand out. Also, I wore a polo shirt to the beach...I am a nerd. I messed with the colors just for kicks.

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The last night there we hung out at the house and Jake BBQ's amazing tri-tip and gourmet dogs. After dinner we hung out and roasted "mallows." Good times!

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We had a great time and look forward to heading up there again soon. Oh yeah, I never mentioned that Jake and Amy paid for Sarah and I to go to a little hot springs resort up in the hills nearby. They watched the kids and we enjoyed our own private jacuzzi/natural hot spring. It was quite romantic. No photos were taken there since clothing is optional. That's about all I have to say about that! I guess I'll find out if anyone actually got this far in the post by what's said in the comments section. (:

“Jamie, You're the Man!”

Thanks for passing this on Sue, it's inspiring!
By Heidi S. Swinton

Jamie Wheeler turned 29 on September 5th . But by all accounts, he's been celebrating for months. His district celebrated his birthday, and when the senior missionaries had a get together, Jamie requested a chocolate cake with sprinkles – don't forget the sprinkles -- he kept telling me. We even presented him with a birthday badge.

Jamie is serving a mission with his parents, their third mission -- so far -- and their second to the England London South Mission. They have served in the Salt Lake Inner City Project as well, and there are more on the horizon.

When they arrived in England , my husband set Jamie apart as a Church Service missionary to accompany his parents. How blessed is the mission who receives this couple and their remarkable son! They have caught the essence of President Monson's teachings, “Do something for someone else to make his or her life a little better. Find someone who is having a hard time, or is ill, or lonely, and do something for them. That's all I would ask.”

Jamie has special needs. That doesn't stop him from street contacting, knocking and any other measure of missionary work put before him. He is endowed and attends the temple. He sings with gusto – great gusto sometimes – and he beams with love when he sees someone he knows. Even those who scowl on the street get the endearing Jamie smile. Ask anyone who has been street contacting with Jamie and they will tell you, Jamie is bold. Paul's words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” describes Jamie Wheeler.

The Wheelers -- James and Catherine -- serve in the Hamble River Ward in the Portsmouth Stake on the south coast of England . What they with the help of Jamie have done for the members, for the people in the community and for their fellow missionaries is nothing short of a miracle.

We have been talking about miracles in the mission. We have pointed missionaries to President Eyring's talk in October 2007 General Conference where he reminded us to “remember” the Lord's hand in our lives. As a mission, we took his counsel to heart and have looked for miracles every day. What is amazing is that they DO pour down from the sky, as consistently as does the rain in England .

President Eyring told of writing down a few lines every day for years. He would ask himself, “'Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?' As I kept at it,” he explained, “something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.”

One of the things God has done for us in England is send Jamie. His is pure; he is inspiring.

At one Zone conference focused on getting investigators to Sacrament meeting so that they could feel the spirit of the Lord, the mission president asked for a volunteer to step up and read the Sacrament prayers. Without even raising his hand, Jamie leaped to his feet and came forward. He read from the scriptures the prayer on the water; it was a spiritual moment everyone of us there will never forget. As he said each word, “that you may always have his spirit to be with you” the Lord's promise resonated in all our hearts.

When one of his zone leaders was called to serve as an assistant, Jamie filled in until the new companion arrived. “The day he was my companion,” his fellow missionary, then about a year in the field, explained, “he was so enthusiastic for the work; he had so much desire. He just made me realize how much more I could be doing because he was giving everything.”

His parents are prolific chocolate chip cookie bakers and Jamie is the designated taster. (He's quick to tell you that fact.) Since it's difficult to get chocolate chips in England , his dad chops bars of chocolate into chips by hand. Right now, they are at more than 40,000 cookies distributed in their two British missions. Each one, a bit of a miracle.

When the Wheelers visit the less actives, Jamie stands at the front with the plate of cookies. The door opens and his folks greet them. Then Jamie steps forward with the cookies and with all the goodness in his heart he says, “I love you.” The door swings open and the people take them in. “Knock and it shall be opened unto you” has taken on a whole new meaning in this mission.

The elders like to clap him on the shoulder and say, “Jamie, you're the man.” His comeback is speedy, “Yes, I am.” When we stand to recite our purpose, “To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end,” Jamie adds at the end – “like my Dad.”

We have learned a great deal from the Wheelers. We have learned about pressing on and serving with whole-souled devotion. They could have stayed in their ward on the hillside in Salt Lake but they are in a tiny little two bedroom flat, a kitchen with no window. But it doesn't matter. The light of the Lord Jesus Christ pours down upon them and upon everyone they meet.

Jamie's mother and dad beam they serve by his side; sometimes there are h tears in their eyes as sit at the back watching him mingle with the missionaries. My, how they love Jamie; we do too.

Join Me for NaNoWriMo in November!

Let's do it! Everyone who has been thinking about writing "that book," let's get online less, watch less TV (that's easy for me since I don't watch TV very often), play less games (that'll be tough) and spend far less time with our loved ones (OK, now that's taking it too far). I am going to go for it, the question now is: which of the many novel ideas should I go for? Oh, I have the unfair advantage of being off work for nearly the entire month.

What is NaNoWriMo?

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works page!

The Blog Life

I finally finished Standing for Something by Gordon B. Hinckley and I loved it! I love President Hinckely's personality and sweet sense of humor and this book made me miss him! I really enjoyed this quote by Jenkins Floyd Jones:
There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed...Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around and shouting that he has been robbed...Life is like an old-time rail journey-delays, sidetracks, smoke, dush, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride. (italics added).

My favorite part of that quote is that marriage/life is "interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed." It is SO true! That is why we tend to focus on those vistas when we blog/scrapbook, etc. But, those "cinders and jolts" are definitely what make up the day to day and we should remember that they are just as, if not more, important for our growth. I especially relate with parenting. In fact, this afternoon I was "blogstalking" as Carter was throwing a HUGE fit because I changed the channel when Humpty Dumpty was on and by the time I got it back, it was over and then, at the same time, Claire started to bang her head on the floor (just so she would have something to cry about, I think) and I really wanted to push the mute button on my children or go lock myself in the bathroom for a while. Instead I pulled myself of the blogosphere and tried to difuse the situation. But then, there are those moments that your heart really feels like it might just explode with joy. And those are the moments that get you through. Another great quote on that matter was shared at my friend Michelle's wedding by her sister Lisa: "Some days your mother and me loved each other. Other days we had to work at it. You never see the hard days in a photo album... but those are the ones that get you from one happy snapshot to the next." (from the movie "Just Married").

Here is a video of us trying to get ready for church one morning, Danny happened to be home because we were heading to a missionary "non-homecoming." I usually get this pleasure all to myself:



This is a picture of Carter on his first day of preschool. He was so excited and, as you can see, he bites his bottom lip when he is excited and it shows in the picture. He loves preschool and is doing very well. Today I drove past their playground on the way out and he was playing at the water table, I slowed to say "I love you Carter" out the window and he shouted back, with exuberance, "I love you too." Thank goodness for these moments along the train ride of life!

Carter in front of the Pooh Bear flag, Carter's class symbol

2008 Summer Paralympic Games

The owner/operator of the bike shop I use down in the Canyon Crest Town Centre is disabled but still competes on his bicycle. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to be part of the 2008 Paralympic Games which got me thinking about these "alternative" games. I must say, looking at THESE PHOTOS was, for me at least, as inspiring as anything I saw during the Summer Olympic broadcasts on TV. Enjoy.

San Luis Obispo Summer Trip- PART I

Before anything else, I want to show this video of Carter roaring at Claire, it's hilarious:


OK, with that out of the way, we can move on: earlier this summer, toward late June or so, we took a trip up to see her brother Jake and his girlfriend Amy. We had a great time hanging out with them walking around town, taking a trip to the beach, hitting up the childrens' museum, eating well, etc. We look forward to another trip up there, especially since we want to check out the new business they just started. More on that later. Since they're are so many photos, I'm going to do two different posts, one now and one later.

Night 1- After Jake and Amy got off work, we went downtown to the Farmer's Market, grabbed some wraps and then walked around. Great weather and lots of interesting sights and sounds.

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Apparently this was when Carter and Sarah saw a ghost (look at Sarah's face):

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Carter thought this place looked intriguing:

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The Renaissance Freaks (jk!)...I mean gentlemen, were out in force:

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Cool old library:

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Jake, Sarah and Amy walking:

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Claire figured out she could stand up in the "Sit and Stand" stroller:

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I thought this car looked great. I overexposed the shot which left it a bit fuzzy but I love this shot anyway:

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Back at the house:

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The SLO Childrens' Museum:

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Carter has so much fun he makes other kids feel depressed in comparison:

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This pic make me smile:

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Putting out fires...

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Young boys' heads explode when they see train tables like this. There was actually a lot less violence than I had predicted given the numerous lads and the limited resources available. Oh, the sociological studies one could undertake in a situation like this:

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Sweet Claire Bear:

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I dedicate this photo to Ned, who knows why, and to Gary and all my "Rat Boys" of which Carter is apparently now the newest member:

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Narcissism at its height:

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Dress up time gets crazay!:

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Can you come up with a caption for this one?

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That'll do it for this post. Tune in, or click in, next time for SLO II.