100 degree results

Many of you participated in my 100 degree giveaway by attempting to guess the number of 100 degree days we would have this summer in DFW. Well, we beat the record of 69 days set in 1980 by setting a new record of 70 days! Thanks to all who gave it a shot - the winners are announced below...

1st prize - $100 in gift cards

2nd prize - 100 free Dentsply burs

3rd prize - A solar hat fan!

Yours and mine customer service rep....Jenny Sisk, oops I mean Jenny Brittain!

Jenny, who you and I know as a friendly customer service rep for Midwest Dental and Scott Brittain, a service tech extrodinaire for Midwest were wed on September 2nd. They had a beautiful wedding in downtown Ft. Worth and they were gracious enough to let our entire family crash their party...well at least Liam did! (see pics below)

 I dressed like Liam...not visa versa

 That little Baby in Jill's arm is baby #3 Charlotte Noelle!

Brooke with the flower girl...Christine Swarvar

My Inaugural Memorial Day Ride with "W"

I will never forget Memorial Day 2011. Joining the secret service and President George W. Bush for a 14 mile plus mountain bike ride was not only an experience, but also a privilege. He was a great and experienced cyclist that cleaned everything on the ride who kept a steady unyielding cadence on one of DORBA's finest trails. I knew he was an avid mountain bike cyclist, I just didn't know I would get not only a chance to meet and have a nice chat with him, but also ride with as he called it..."Peloton One!" (A "peloton" is the field or main pack of riders that stay closely grouped together during a race.)

His cycling socks have the Presidential seal on them

Vintage Hallmark Card

Liam stealing a kiss at the gardens of the Alamo where my family joined me during the Texas Dental Association meeting in San Antonio.

The future of handpieces....no really it's a video from the future

I thought I would share a masterpiece of creativity from your local Dentsply Professional rep, Adam Creath. I received the following email from him and since it was definitely worth my while, I thought it would be worth yours as well!

"A funny thing happened yesterday. I checked my mail and I had a video message sent from myself 30 years from now. At first I figured someone had to be joking with me, but once I watched the video I realized it was legit!!
Watch the video…it’s only 1 ½ minutes long. Evidently the ATC handpiece is pretty huge in the future…" -Adam Creath

Weather report..."We will have a dusting of snow" - try 5-6 inches!

Capturing Jill & Brooke's sledding fun faces

"This is fun!" - what Liam said over and over again as he made tracks in the powdery snow with his new fireman boots!

I think German Shepherds look best against a backdrop of snow. Lucy could care less, she was on guard duty...as always.

2011 Frozen Endurance Challenge

Some of you might remember the good ole' days when I used to race Lance Armstrong, but on a 5 year olds bike for the Kerr team.

But, finally I had to grow up and graduate to a big boys bike and entered in to my first winter endurance race. This one was held at a private ranch in Glen Rose call Solavaca. The owner cut 8.5 miles of mountain biking single track on his property.

By the time my wife showed up to take a picture at my little pit stop I was refueling (after 4 laps and 3 hours and 45 mins later) with an old fashioned pbj sandwich before starting my final and 5th lap.

At the finish line - 5 hrs and 7 mins. 37.5 miles of mud, cold, racers, climbs, descents, and pure funPretty tired / pretty wife
Riding back to my car to pack up. If you look real close you can see "Midwest Dental" on my jersey. Wait, don't look too close at this pic!

A poem from my wife

It’s hard to believe our firstborn, Liam, come March soon will be 3,
Then there’s Brooke, our sweet little daughter, who is growing at rapid speed.
We wish this life would sometimes slow, but we know it is but a breath,
The Lord knows what He’s doing and we only strive to raise them our very best.
Difficult the times can be but rewarding just the same,
A “bad” day in this house can be turned around by simply playing a silly game.
Newborn days for Liam and Brooke have come and now are gone,
But come August 9, 2011 we’ll be singing another sweet baby Boldt a lullaby song!

2011 Rose Bowl Champions!

In light of TCU's big win tonight against Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl, I thought I would take y'all on a trip down memory lane when I marched in the TCU drumline way back in 2000 and 2001. Too bad I went to the Galleryfurniture.com bowl in Houston and a bowl game in Mobile during my stay...oh well, TCU was just beginning their road to success back then when LaDainian Tomlinson (L.T.) was up for the Heisman.

Can you spot me - circa year 2000

In the middle looking stern

Flash forward 10 years...Rose Bowl game night watching party Jan 1, 2011.

Jill is a TCU alum too - that is where we met!

Blue sensors look better than black ones

Shopping for a new sensor? Listen to what Dr. John Flucke said about the new GXS-700 sensor, "Gendex has just raised the bar dramatically for digital radiography." No docking station, just a simple hi-speed USB 2.0 connectivity, an advanced CMOS sensor, 20 visible line pairs per mm, and of course its smooth edges.

http://www.gendex.com/functions/csdownload3.aspx?id=25708&org=003&key=1dbea5697203e43e5c3894bcb07b953ac10f9312b2e8be7921049eba0c3587c1
To view actual images click on the link below, open file and then double click on the vixwin viewer to view super sharp, crisp and mind numbing clear digital images by the GXS-700 sensor. This is where the new Gendex senor sells itself.

https://www.yousendit.com/download/RlRyRkJkUnFnYU5jR0E9PQ

This Halloween you will know where your candy came from.

Have you ever wondered what it took to create that simple little Hershey kiss or the melting Hershey bar that smothers your marshmallow and graham cracker for the perfect s'more? It took FAILURE. Oh, and then some more FAILURE. It took a man that realized that failure is our best teacher.

Raised in rural central Pennsylvania, hampered by the lack of a formal education and nearly bankrupt by the time he was 30, Milton S. Hershey went on to become not only one of America’s wealthiest individuals, but also a successful entrepreneur whose products are known the world over, a visionary builder of the town which bears his name and a philanthropist whose open-hearted generosity continues to touch the lives of thousands.
A successful entrepreneur...eventually. Following a four-year apprenticeship as a teenager to a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, candy maker, Hershey in 1876 attempted to start his own candy business in Philadelphia. Despite six years of hard work, it failed. So he moved to Denver and found work with a confectioner who taught him how to make caramels using fresh milk. He then started up a second candy business in New York City. It also failed. Undaunted, he returned to Lancaster and once again tried making a go of the caramel business. This time, it worked. Soon, his Lancaster Caramel Company was shipping all over the U.S. and Europe, employing 1400 people and turning him into one of the area’s leading citizens.

But........what about the chocolate?

For years, he worked at perfecting a viable recipe for making milk chocolate -- a process which up to then had been kept a closely guarded secret by the Swiss. Finally, through trial and error, he hit upon the right formula of milk, sugar and cocoa that enabled him to realize his dream of mass producing and distributing milk chocolate candy. What had once been a luxury for the rich, was to become an enjoyment that anyone could afford...the Hershey bar.

This was courtesy of http://www.hersheystory.org/

A Week in the Rockies

We started off our 2010 trip to the Rockies with a journey to Leadville, CO and a historic train ride through one of Colorado's famous mining towns. The trip was really for Liam and his affinity for trains, just like all 2 1/2 yr old boys that have been exposed to the children's blue drug called....Thomas. But, the true source of joy came from Brooke, pictured below in her pink jail ensemble, who clung to the railing on the train car and watched with baby bouncing anticipation as every pine tree riddled with disease by pine beetles wooshed by her little doe eyes.

Liam tries Thomas on the tracks since his parents have held out on providing him with a Thomas train set.

Up to McCulloch Gulch to view a cascading waterfall, we hiked with the kiddos strapped to our backs through a mild shower sprinkled on us by the ever changing cloud formations of white and gray clouds. We saw ponds, single log bridges, burnt out forests, an alpine lake, and the ever looming presence of a large animal that we could smell and hear behind us, but could not see!

If you would like to try it yourself...

http://www.summitcountyexplorer.com/HIKES/McCullough%20Gulch%20-%20Hiking%20Trail.htm

Looking at Brooke makes me want to drink some Swiss Miss Cocoa

Pictured behind me is one of Colorado's 14er's - Quandary Peak. I summited it 2 months before in June with snow still on it's pointed top...picture below.

End of the hike 3 miles later with Brooke asleep and Liam falling asleep minutes after this picture was taken.

Further north we entered Grand Lake on Colorado's west side and stayed at a cabin nestled in the trees complete with a trail leading to its very own fire ring and logs carved to sit on.

We met a friendly sasquatch and he took this picture of us at our remote cabin. I think the pungent smell of "used" diapers took away all of his natural human devouring instincts.

At the suggestion of Liam, we took off hiking one afternoon in Coyote Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park's more unvisted west side. We found beautiful meadows that literally looked golden in color and usually are the best places to spot the elusive moose of RMNP.

Guess what I got for last Christmas...yup, my two front teeth!

A final back breaking 7 mile hike at the end of our trip (Liam weighs over 30 lbs, more than my backpack when I go backpacking) we enjoyed the solitude of one of the most beatiful trails in RMNP we have ever been on in our years of visiting the park...Cascade Falls trail. Again, in the early morning hours, moose had been spotted each day in the golden meadows, however, it was not our day and instead we viewed some rather large horses on some private property that backed up to the beginning of the trail.

The "lake" of Grand Lake. Brooke is making a fashion statement with her bib.

Our last evening at our cabin we roasted ballpark franks, toasted some marshmallows and built the ever coveted s'more. But, before a fire could be made, I had to pose....er, umm chop a few trees down with the axe provided to build my bonfire...er, umm I mean split logs for a campfire. You get the picture...well, yes you do actually!