~

A perfect end to a fantastic day...

2011-03-21T21:25:00.000-06:00

in good company.

Been one of those weeks...

2010-12-02T11:42:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week my poor pampered feline had to take her first trip to the vet. She had an abscess (ew) that needed to be cleaned and get a shot of antibiotics. She was quite a trooper actually, I thought she'd flip the moment the thermometer was... um, put to use. I only heard her cursing the name of the vets when they took her into the back room for the shave, cleaning and injections. Even then it was mild. She is definitely a better patient than I. I still flinch every time I see a needle.

Today she's back to her normal spoiled self and begging to go outside and come back in every five minutes.

Aside from pet problems its just been one of those weeks. I've been lazy and depressed. With the cold weather and it being the "Holiday Season" I've been resigned to stay indoors. Don't worry, I work outside so I'm getting my lungs full of jet exhaust infused fresh air.
Also, I did have a wonderful evening on Monday night. Mandie came down from the valley and we made dinner and watched episodes of Glee. But I don't go out much once December hits. I tend to hate Christmas when I spend too much time out and about during this tragically festive time of year. The crowded stores, the scary bell ringers at the entrances, people politely shoving you out of the way to get the last Taylor Swift album or Star Wars Lego set. Road rage takes on new meaning at this time of year. The freeways are always a joy to travel. Everyone waving a friendly "California Howdy" as they tear across the black ice in their Mormon Assault Vehicles. The most wonderful time of the year.

So yeah I stay indoors at this time and my waist line is seeing the result of my hermitage. Along with inflatable stomach my higher brain functions seem to be affected as well. This morning I made some eggs and logged onto the computer to read the news. After a couple of minutes I heard the faint sound of sizzling. I glanced down at my plate where only crumbs remained of my breakfast and couldn't imagine what was cooking. On hopping up and dashing into the kitchen my eyes beheld this:

Yup! I'm a smarty!.:)
So here's to the weekend being better! Please please please be better!

Guatemala

2010-11-12T19:24:00.006-07:00

My most recent expedition took me to Central America to explore the southern regions of Guatemala. We (my cousin's and I) covered so much in three days that everyone I've told about my trip assumes I was there for a week. If you really want the full version I'll send you my journal entry. Needless to say this was an action packed trip! I owe the majority of that to my two amazing cousin's that came along on buddy passes and acted as translators and more than anything kept me calm through all of the chaos and adventures. (For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm am by no means a calm and composed individual. I probably should have warned Adam and Stephanie of that before we left.)

So below is my photo journal! Enjoy the pics!

Adam sitting pretty in first class on the way into Guatemala.

The Volcano Runners. Our awesome tour guide took us off trail on a "short cut" where we were literally running down the mountain full speed. It was fantastical!

Lounging outside our hotel room in Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan.

View from the hotel roof. Amazing!

My favorite shot of the trip. This was taken on the steps of the church in Chichicastenango during the Thursday market.

Heading Home

Witches and Foster Care

2010-10-28T15:59:00.006-06:00

I have been waiting all month for this movie event and I'm glad I finally got to it! I had movie night at my place this last Tuesday and we watched the best Halloween movie ever, Hocus Pocus. (Press 'PLAY' on the media player above. The first song goes with this post)

It's campy, it's slapstick, it's ridiculously cheesy and not scary in the slightest bit. I LOVE IT! I had a great group of friends that quoted the movie along with me. We kinda of had to silence ourselves since it was Mandie's first time and we didn't want to ruin the experience. So thanks to my friends who came over to watch and participate. You guys rock!

Same night as movie night I took in a foster kitty. A friend from work found this stray hanging around with her four other cats. (Yeah, she's kinda the cat lady down the street thought not as crazy) She took her in but the rest of her family said "No." Grudgingly she passed the bundle of fluff on to me in hopes of finding her a new home. (At this kitten's age the chances of her being picked up from the shelter are slim) So I'm putting out a general adoption call to everyone. If you're looking for a new kitty then this one is free. I haven't taken her to the vet yet so don't know details. I'm estimating her to be about a year old by her size and weight. For now I'm calling her C.C.

Let me know if you can, or know of anyone who can, give her a good home.

Rennovations

2010-10-11T22:32:00.002-06:00

So for those of you viewing my blog without a reader you've probably noticed that I've re-decorated. I've dropped the title because, honestly, why do I need a title for a blog that's blabbing about myself.

I will be adding an RSS feed on one of the sidebars for the blogs that I follow so you can all see that I do have friends, and so my friends and family can see that I do follow their blogs. So stay tuned for that.

Also, my review blog has gone silent because I just haven't had the ambition to post there as of late. Keep your eye on it though. I may have something exciting and new to post soon. Same goes for "Pixalated," my portfolio blog.

I would love feedback though. Let me know what you think of the colors, the playlist etc etc.

Venice, Italy

2010-10-10T12:56:00.007-06:00

My one souvenir from Venice, now if only I could find a Masquerade to wear it to...

Once again, thanks to my beautiful flight benefits from Delta Airlines, I was able to get outta town!

Originally I was planning an entire week on the other side of the Atlantic but my dear Chevy required some maintenance before it would pass safety and emissions. So what was to be a trip to two or three European cities became a one city trip. (the economy package) No complaints though. Venice was everything I needed.

After a twelve hour layover in Manhattan (Don't worry, I didn't stay at the airport, I went into the city and played. I'm just sad I didn't have time to see a matinée.)I roughed it in business class all the way into Venice, Italy. With a stamp of the passport I was in! After shuffling around the airport for a bit to get my bearings I found the public transit counter and bought a bus ticket into the city. By bus I mean a 30' boat.

The bus (boat) took us around the east side of the city before cutting into the Grand Canal where I was dropped off at the Rialto Bridge. I hoofed it over to the street I believed to be the address of my hostel. I found it, after a good hour of wandering around. After a well needed nap and a shower I took to the streets. Good freakin crap!! It was beautiful! So here is the photo tour of Venice, enjoy!

Fun with lightning

2010-06-08T21:13:00.005-06:00

So for those of you fortunate enough to have seen the amazing lightning storm the other night you know how beautifully it lit up the sky. I couldn't just sit in my house and watch and I definitely couldn't go without grabbing the camera. So here is the picture of the night. It took sixty snaps to grab this one.

I'm sorry for the location from whence it's taken. Lots of trees and power lines in the way. (Next lightning storm I promise to stand in the middle of a field where I'm the tallest object with my metal tripod so we won't have any pesky obstructions in the pictures.)

I want I want I want....

2010-05-25T10:52:00.002-06:00

HTC Desire - Discover the unexpected
"

BUR: Burbank, Ca

2010-05-04T17:36:00.004-06:00

Quick blip.

I went out to Burbank, Ca last night to hang out with a friend and have dinner. We had appetizers at the Elephant restaurant just a couple of blocks down from the hotel where he was staying. Next morning Blake, my friend, had to head to work so I trudged down to the media district to see the Disney Studios.

I was rather disappointed, but not surprised, that the studios have no public access (ie, no studio tours or visitor center kinda things where you can ask questions etc.) and so I couldn't even step foot on property. (My dreams of being spotted while walking across the studio and being cast for the next big leading role in a film were dashed to bits!) But It was fun just to be there and know that's where most of the magic happens. I made it a point to walk around the block to the far side of the studios to where the Animation Building was.

I wanted to pay homage to the studio that inspired my artist career path. In the pictures you can see that there they've covered the name of the building in black. They're unveiling the new name of the studio on Friday as the Roy Disney Animation Studio. It's fitting since Roy was the one to keep animation alive while Eisner wanted to get rid of it following Walt's death. So this dedication to the recently passing Roy is perfect.

Me, being the nerd I am, had to document my being there at the studio so I've begun to video myself with my handy little phone camera. I'm such a dork! Isn't it great?!

long live the Electric Mayhem!

2010-04-13T21:46:00.005-06:00

I haven't updated much as of late but have been extremely busy, which is good.

I'm taking a class right now through the Granite Peaks School District that focuses on animation using AutoDesk Maya! Who knew!? A class that teaches what I have been wanting to learn all along! (hint hint UVSC...) I will be posting work from the class on the "other blog" soon enough.

I have also been training for the Salt Lake Half Marathon that I will be running this upcoming Saturday. I have never been the physically active one in the family. I'm the nerd, the one that plays the computer and watches cartoons. I have never run thirteen miles in my life! So just keep your fingers crossed that I can puff my way across the finish line.

Many people have the opportunity to show cute pictures of their kids doing the darnedest things on their blogs. I, being the new version of the "Cat Lady down the street," only have my little puss to flaunt on my blog.That darling little furball got a hold of a roll of TP while I was at work and this is what I came home to:Oh, and just for the fun of it I'm posting some Muppets. Because honestly, you can't watch the Muppets without smiling. I grabbed this from their youtube channel. You can watch all of their new shorts in HD here.

Mine, MINE, ALL MINE!

2010-03-31T19:06:00.003-06:00

I know I sound a little greedy in my title but it's a good feeling! Yesterday I payed off my car. Just over five years ago I returned home from my internship at Walt Disney World, Florida, in a beat up/half dead, 1995 Ford Ranger. In August of 2005 I purchased my first car (with the credit help of my Father, thanks Dad!). I bought this 2002 Chevy Cavalier.(Please ignore the product placement for Chevy Murdock, I would not recommend them for an auto purchase.)
It only had 34000 miles on it and has been a work horse of a commuter car. I've had to get the brakes done twice and multiple oil changes, gas tanks and 89,000 miles later I have paid off my loan to America First Credit Union and I own my car!!!! Booyah!What was almost a kick in head version of Murphy's Law was that the day I paid it off the wind decided to mess with me and throw all sorts of debris at the passenger side of my vehicle! I was slightly perturbed at the dents but over all still happy that the dented, dinged and scratched vehicle belongs to me!

Injuries, Awards and Books

2010-03-09T16:42:00.008-07:00

Having worked at the Salt Lake Airport for over five years now (First for SkyWest and now for Delta Airlines) I've had a few bumps and bruises. I've broken three toes, received several gashes. I've even lost feeling in my left pinky for a while. None of those were quite as frightening to me as my back injury that I sustained on Saturday.

I've never hurt my back before. Not like this. I couldn't even turn to the left or the right! While my previous injuries were more shockingly painful, this was debilitating. My ability to do anything was restricted! And how did I sustain this terrible injury you ask? By lifting one bag two feet to place it on top of another. Thats it! I wasn't even straining my physical abilities! The bags were light! Oh well, such is the way of things. One never breaks an arm or gets stitches for the cool things, its usually something lame.

Moving on...

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards were held on Sunday. Every year for the past twenty years the Utah Aids Foundation has hosted a dinner for the Oscars as a fundraiser for the foundation. I very recently signed up for as a voulunteer at the foundation and was lucky enough to score a job at the event!

I was a table captain for three of our corporate sponsor tables and I had a blast. It was so much fun to watch people as they cheered for the winners they liked and compete on the silent auction items that were available. The foundations' ten employees put together a fantastic dinner. Catered by the Bambara Restaurant (Such amazing food!) and hosted at the new Rail Events Center seating over forty tables the dinner seemed to be a success. I haven't heard the over all number that the fundraiser brought in yet, but I'm excited to see how it went and I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.

Lastly, I've been surviving my stagnate economic situation by filling the void with reading. (Better that than a package of double stuff Oreos every night I guess)I've gotten through some great books as of late but come to find that many of them are part of a series that hasn't been completed yet. I started the Eragon books and was startled to find out that the last book has yet to be completed. ARGH! A friend introduced me to the Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss but sadly only one book has been completed of the trilogy. (The Name of the Wind, book 1 of the Chronicles, has been my favorite read of late. Highly recommend it to all you fantasy/sci-fi fans.) Luckily the publication date of the next book is set for May 1st of this year so I won't have long to wait.

After trying to take on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables again (I made it through about forty pages before I took it back to the library, just wasn't in the mood) I picked up much lighter reading. Recommended by my sister-on-law Heather, I picked up The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner.You can never really go wrong with a Newbury Award Winner.

Facebook no more...

2010-02-22T10:22:00.005-07:00

It's been over a week now since my disputed departure from the online social community. Yes, I have finally deleted my Facebook account. The sense of loss for this online network is nonexistent. The minutes, no, the hours wasted on status updates and clever retorts to those updates are over now. The amount of free time I have seems to doubled. Surfing the internet has new meaning without the addictive taste of Facebook lining my bookmark bar.

What gave me pause, and later a good laugh, on deleting my account was the outrage from my fellow Facebookers. Many were shocked and in fact livid at my decision, almost as if I had decided to renounce my membership to the human race and undergo surgery to become a pelican.
The small surge of clinging that littered my "wall" was in a small way touching. The emotional withdrawals at my not being on Facebook made me feel loved. Loved in an entirely detached, non-personal sense that you can only get with digital communication. And so with that I am now free, free to run through the streets and parks tasting fresh airs and real human interaction! After I finish updating my blogs, take a few online tutorials, e-mail my friends, catch up on the Onion and check out what's going on on Buzz.

Sundance 2010: Volunteering

2010-02-07T16:28:00.007-07:00

I've always been a patron of the arts. I think more so than anyone else in my family. Yet I've lived my entire life in Utah and have never experienced the multimedia carnival that is Sundance.

With next to nothing to do with my spare time other than online training courses (thank you, UVSC, once AGAIN for your thorough training *cough cough*)I struck out last fall to volunteer for the festival and was placed at the New Frontier venue on Main Street Park City.

New Frontier is an art exhibition held in the basement of the old Main Street Mall in Park City. The festival catalog describes it as an "experimentation and convergence of film, art and new media technologies as a hotbed for cinematic innovation. This program highlights work that pushes the boundaries of traditional aesthetics and the narrative structures of film making and presents the moving image in theaters, gallery spaces, and in other surprising ways..."

In our venue we had exhibits from several artists as well as live performances and panels interviewing directors, company executives and others who are adding to the advancement in technology in media. My job was to act as a docent and answer questions about the exhibits. It was a perfect job for me! I'm not much of a desk person, I constantly have the need to get up and move. (I've actually gotten up twice since I started this entry and walked a lap around the kitchen and living room.) I was able to talk about art and basically just interact with hundreds of people!
My favorite exhibits were by artist Tracy Snelling and Ragnar Kjartansson.
Tracy (whom I got to meet and she was awesome) created a piece called Boardertown. Her inspiration was pulled from the towns and cities along the US/Mexico boarder. Ramshackle towns with plaster and mud buildings crowded together into a tight knit mix of culture. Check out her website. Some pretty cool stuff.

Ragnar's exhibit was a video/audio performance. A 45 min loop of five videos all recorded in separate locations in the Canadian Rockies. In each video (the videos were displayed on all the walls of a small theater in the venue) Ragnar and his partner, Davio Por Jonsson played different instruments (One was even a Grand Piano placed in a remote valley in the rockies). All of the video's were synced to the same music so you're viewing once song being performed in five outdoor locations on different instruments with the ambient noise of the mountains and air. Definitely one of the best.

I had so much fun and spoke with so many artist and directors and all sorts of cool weird, exciting people! I will definitely be hitting up the festival again next year if I'm around. So worth it!

ps- So, much to my dismay, I didn't have my camera for this event (Mandie, I'm sorry, I've failed as a photo enthusiast) and so there are no photos from ME on this post! LAME! I promise I'll be better at this kind of thing. I really will!

Catch up!

2009-12-07T10:23:00.003-07:00

Okay, I realize that I've been waaaay behind on posting what's goin on in my life. So here's a brief run through:

I think the formost important event in my life has been the discovery of my video camera on my phone. The following is a clip of my roommate and I riding Trax into downtown. We were meeting up with a couple of friends at Squatters that night and were in a rather spastic mood. The audio kinda cut out and so I honestly can't remember what we were discussing. But I think it had something to do with the attire one of the other passengers was wearing.

Okay so the camerphone was a joke, far more important things have occured recently including the celebration of my birth. I know you all celebrated that day (Some of you may have cursed it but keep that to yourselves) and I had a grand ole time celebrating it with the family and friends.

The Friday before my birthday my friends and I went out to Yellow Finn, a new Sushi place up in Sugarhouse. I'll get around to reviewing it if I can when I get to updating my other blog. Then on Sunday we had the traditional Sunday dinner with family at the parents. My mother wanted to emphasize my age by fitting every candle she could onto my requested dessert, home-made doughnuts.

As seen in this photo, the glaze actually lit on fire during the birthday song.

Later that week we celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' condo in Huntsville, UT.

Since Pineview I've been trying to clean up the yard where I live. I didn't get to the leaves in time so now there are large piles of snow covered leaves dotting the back yards of the apartments. I've also been making the best of my Christmas decorations budget. I made a garland for our railing and decorated a little $2 wreath from Wal-mart.

catching up...

2009-11-05T10:48:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I really see no reason for me to update you all on my life because, lets be honest, there isn't much to update! My life has become disturbingly monotonous. I work, I play video games, I go to the gym, I watch my television shows (which will be all be broken down and ranted about on my OTHER blog sometime in the near future), and every so often I do something exciting like have friends over to socialize. (yes, I used the term socialize because I can't think of a word that would describe a group of adults getting together and watchings cartoons or playing PS3.) I've become a boring person. So I won't bore you now with with my lack of stories. I'll simply let you know that I'm still alive. I have a pulse. My cat keeps me company and drives me crazy at times. I'm grounded to Utah right now since the Holidays make it impossible to travel as a non-rev. So here I am!

San Diego

2009-09-26T15:14:00.003-06:00

So I went to SD this past Thursday and Friday. I posted about it on my other blog. Take a look!

Here is my amazing attempt to take my picture at night with my cell in the Gaslamp Quarter though!

Mimi Ages

2009-09-10T21:45:00.007-06:00

I meant to post this on my last post for Mimi's Birthday. Here is a then and now change.

And now...

I'll admit I'm the kind of person that loves a cat more than a kitten. Cute as a kitten is, I love the personality and the attitude of an adult cat. Mimi has certainly developed a personality all her own as she's grown up. She's claimed m night stand as her own as you can see in her most recent pic. She wakes me up a half hour before my alarm because she wants to play. She doesn't like to be held or sleep on your lap. She does however demand that she's in the same room with you at all times and will lay down 2" out of arms reach. She's a total opposite from her sister Sadie in her lack of need for attention and yet she loves to be around her sister (thanks mom for baby sitting every now and then.) Mimi is an individual. I love having her around the house and setting her own rules. (For instance; in exchange for keeping off the bar where I prepare food, she gets to climb on the table. Gross I know but it was a needed compromise) It makes me feel like I'm not a hermit when I get home from work and she's waiting in the window sill for me.

Birthdays, Stings, Painting, Smells and a whole lotta other stuff

2009-09-05T17:40:00.008-06:00

So I realize that it's been some time since I posted last. I haven't even updated my review blog lately. I'll have to do that next. So here's the skinny on what's happened in my life.

Mimi (my cat) turned one! I realize that celebrating a cat's birthdays makes me seem like the crazy old cat lady down the street, but hey, I'm eccentric! I can do whatever I want! So she got two presents. A fleece blanket (she will stand on it and just paw away while purring. She looks like she's in pure ecstasy. ) and a little play cube thingy. It was $3 so I couldn't pass it up, and she loves it!
I've been kept rather busy at the apartments trying to get landscaping and yard work done. It's quite a chore. Last week I found a wasp nest while trimming the bushes and was promptly stung. Grrrr! Well yesterday, Mimi decided she wanted to explore the outside world and made her way over to our neighbor's back yard. In my pursuit I found another (much LARGER) nest of the little six-legged villans and came away with no less than five injuries. How is it that I getting banged up and bruised at the gym, work and out playing doesn't phase me, but a wasp sting just irks me to no end!? So that was my adventure yesterday.

I've slowly but surely been painting my apartment since I moved in and I'm getting closer to completion. I just finished all of the downstairs doors and am ready to put the second coat of paint on the back door. Metal doors are harder than I expected to paint. Pictures to be posted soon. (I hope)

I had a really fun moment of recollection a couple of weeks ago at work. Most of you know that human smell has strong ties to our long term memory. Certain scents can cause you to recall detailed moments in your life (much the way my brother Matt can recall important events by relating them to the meal that was served at the time).
It was a perfect morning at work. The temps were cool and it felt like fall. The sun still hadn't broken over the mountains yet and most of the aircrafts were off so it was quite at the airport. Well, while sitting outside watching the sun come up I inhaled the smell of new clothes. I had just gotten my new uniform for Delta and my hoodie smelled brand new. This triggered the most vivid flashback to walking down Thornfield Road on the first day of school with my mom while wearing my new school clothes while wearing my new backpack full of folders and binders I picked out myself. It was such a fun memory and just so strange that such an old one would come to me while working at the airport simply because of the smell of my sweatshirt.

Also, a few weeks ago my sister, Amy, and her family were in town and we were lucky enough to go up to Pineview and go boating for a bit. It was tons of fun. For Bryon's sake I'm not going to post the blackmail photos from the beach. I'll let him decide if they ever see the light of day. hahagotta love the camera phone video!

Breaking Up

2009-08-08T14:49:00.004-06:00

So as of today I am officially ending a four year relationship. This was definitely the longest relationship I've ever been involved in and I find that I'm having a hard time letting go. I had a lot of good times over the past few years. The mutually beneficial companionship has been great. But near the end it became obvious that the benefits were becoming very one sided. Communication was non-existent. Honestly I felt I was being used, and thanklessly at that. So I ended it. It needed to happen and I know that its for the best.

So good-bye SkyWest Airlines. We had a good run but in the end, you only wanted me for my body... and now I'm battered and broken cause of it. Shame.

On a positive note. I've found a great rebound! Monday morning is my first day on with Delta Airlines. Whoo hoo!
(I must just be a glutton for punishment, oh well. At least I still have a chance to hit up Asia and South America)

Seriously?

2009-07-22T16:51:00.003-06:00

Okay, I usually don't post news stories but my buddy Todd posted this on Facebook and I had to pass it on!

Now, I apologize ahead of time that some of the arguments in this article are hot topics among a few of my readers but I don't want you to focus so much on what they're arguing about (Because, lets face it, it's a hot point and I really don't want to get anyone into that fight on my blog) as much as I want you to focus on they way the people of West Bend, Wisconsin are dealing with it:

CNN.com: "Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand."

After having read that I can't help but remember the musical, The Music Man. The ladies of the River City Ladies Aid singing 'Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little.' The fact that Miss Mariam, the City Librarian, condone's "dirty books!" such as Chaucer, and Rabelais." and of course, "Balzac."

Book burning in the United States just scares me. As Todd said when he posted it, it reminds him of Nazi Germany. It's a sign that the parents of that town haven't taught their children about the world around them, and that they don't plan too. They're offended because their children are learning about their world from someone other than them and they can't stop it. It's the parent's duty to teach their children about rules, laws, drugs, sexuality, wrong from right. Pretending that none of those things exist won't make them go away and definitely won't mean that you're child won't be faced with them in their lives. The only thing you can do is to arm them with the knowledge of what's right. From then on they have a right to choose for themselves. Hopefully they can make an EDUCATED choice rather than one based off of ignorance.

So what I have to say to those parents in West Bend is to go and read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. When you take a look at the commentary that narrative has to offer those who would censor, then come back and tell me you want to burn books in the name of morality.

Pecan Glazed Salmon

2009-07-18T10:45:00.006-06:00

I was tempted to put this post on my review blog as a review of a recipe, but being that I'm not an amazing chef I figured I'd leave that to other more qualified cooks.

Since moving back out of the parent's the one thing I've been excited about, more than anything else, was that I was going to be eating better. While living at home I was eating huge home cooked goodness for dinner and eating out for lunch all the time! Good for the soul, but not for the sixpack. Back on the bachelor budget, I'm forced to make a menu now and plan meals ahead. I will usually plan a meal for a family and refrigerate the rest for meals throughout the week. Well thanks to Costco eating good meats (like fish and chicken) are within my price range.

I picked up a whole cut of salmon on my last grocery run and then realized I had no idea how to prepare it. I've tried the traditional baked method with hollandaise sauce but never seem to get it quite right. (my mom always seems to get it spot on, so my expectations are high on that recipe. ) So I dug into my favorite informations source: Google.

I simply typed in: Salmon+Baked, into the search bar and went swimming. It actually took me a good half hour before I stumbled across a recipe on about.com entitled, Salmon Fillets With Brown Sugar Pecan Glaze. Brown Sugar!? How can this go wrong!?

It worked out beautifully! I just doubled the recipe for a full cut of salmon. With a baked potato and some cantaloupe I had a full on meal. So easy too! So I'm attaching a link for the recipe here. Check it out if you want to give it a try! Enjoy.

Yes, I know it's strange that I should take pictures of my food. I was just so proud of myself for making something so glamorous looking, I had to document.

Calgary Stampede

2009-07-18T10:17:00.010-06:00

Sorry, I've been without a solid internet source since I've moved into my new place and I haven't had a chance to report on Calgary!

Over the Fourth of July weekend I committed a sin as a resident of the United States. I flew up to Canada. I know, I know. My citizenship should be revoked, especially since the 4th is one of my favorite holidays! But my buddy Joel, whom I worked with at Walt Disney World in '04, has been screaming at me to come up and witness the famous Calgary Stampede. Since my employment at the airlines is looking like it may not last more than another year or two I figured it was time to go. So I 'Cowboy'ed Up' and got myself to Calgary. (the hat isn't mine, I was tempted to buy one while I was there but totally bailed out)

For those who don't know, Stampede is a rodeo much like Utah's Days of '47. Only it's bout five times larger. Thousands of cowboys and girls descend on the Stampede Grounds in Calgary for a week long rodeo with Chuck Wagon racing, carnival rides and lots and lots of drinking. I honestly don't think I've seen so many Stetsons in my life.

I was lucky enough to see the wagon races and the Grand Stand show that was put on in the evening. It was quite the show to be sure. Stunt bikes, acrobatics, children's choirs, vocalist, fireworks, comedians... What more do you need?

The next day we also drove out to Banff, the national park just out of Calgary. It was beautiful! I want to go back and spend a week just in the park!

Dust, Cobbwebs and Chocolate

2009-06-03T21:01:00.006-06:00

I've begun to take over management of a small apartment complex that my dad owns out in Murray, Ut. He's giving me a super sweet deal on rent by my moving in there and fixing the place up and trying to keep the tenants in line. Well the unit I'm moving into just became available this past Monday... wow. The last tenants TRASHED it. It's terrible. Yesterday I spent my entire day after work just dusting and tearing random things off walls and pulling garbage out of the furnace. Yes, you read that right, the furnace. The children of the former renter seemed to think the furnace was their own garbage incinerator. Well when I pulled the plating off to clean it I found five Pop-Tarts, a bagel, some dried spaghetti and a paper plate sitting only inches away from the pilot light. Yeah, how on earth!?

I have pictures of the unit in it's current condition but I dont' even want to post them. I'll put those up when alls said and done and I can post "before and after" shots of the place so you can all be in awe of my mad renovating skills. Right up there with my bow staff skills....

Anyway, the next couple of weeks of my life will be spent painting and cleaning and putting this place together before it's livable. I just hope I don't die from inhaling too much crap that's in the air. Ugh. At least I can come home to my parent's clean house and dip into my personal bag of chocolates brought direct from San Fran. My brother and his wife were kind enough to bring me back a bag of chocolate squares from Ghirardelli Chocolates in the bay area. It just seems to be the perfect end to a day when I can sit back savoring a piece of Raspberry and Dark Chocolate. oooooohh yeah!

Purpose to my post-educational life... in the form of Gluttony and Extravagance

2009-05-30T22:39:00.005-06:00

So this blog has been, to date, all about me (I mean hey, what's more important than that?) with the occasional reference to something external, like a good movie or a fantastic product. Well I'm now taking my reviews to a new step. I've started a second blog with a little more purpose than spewing my guts about my life into the digital realm. My new blog is going to be a review blog about movies, television shows (though I probably won't touch on that one since Lacy totally has tv covered over at Televisual Acuity ), books, restaurants, performances and great products for you to check out. Granted, it will be targeted to the audience of other twenty somethings, like myself, but I'm sure there will be things for all to enjoy. So keep your eyes on it here. I'm also posting a link in the sidebar at right ==>

My first review was for Disney/Pixar's 'Up' that released yesterday. Enjoy.

POV- "I sit beside the fire and think...

2009-05-25T22:04:00.005-06:00

'...of all that I have seen,
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been.
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were,
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire
And think of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
That I have never seen.
In every wood, in every spring
There is a different green.

I sit beside the fire
And think of people long ago.
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door"

-J.R.R Tolkein- the Fellowship of the Ring

At the end of a beautiful Memorial Day my parents and I sat next to the fire pit and watched the sun set into the northwest. Such a perfect moment, I had to snap a picture. I am honestly grateful for people who came before me. Those that have seen worlds and events that I will never know. They made it possible for me to enjoy the world I live in. Thank you.

the loves of my life...

2009-04-27T12:27:00.017-06:00

So I've been meaning to do this post for quite some time now but just haven't gotten around to it. Recently my sister-in-law Penny posted an entry listing off the things in her life that she loves. After a comment from my Dad about how negative I can be at times (all the time basically) I thought I would do the same. So here's a list of the things that make my day to day worth it.

(Mimi's favorite perch, the ironing board)
First off, I have to pay tribute to my kitten, though she's not much of a kitten anymore. Mimi's growing fast and is honestly such a great companion to have when you're living the bachelor life. I know most bachelors would prefer a pooch but cats just tend to be much more self sustaining and ten times more entertaining when you have a laser pointer.

I love my computer! Yes my materialistic nature is strong but I can't help it. An Intel i7 core, OCZ Platinum 12 GB of RAM with a max out of 24 GB! Seagate's 1TB Barracuda Hard Drive, an oh so powerful HD PNY video card with NVIDA GeForce 9800 GT chipset viewed on an Asus 24" Widescreen Monitor with built in webcam and microphone. All of this is mounted to MSI's X58 Pro Intel i7 motherboard.
And the best part, it doesn't run on Windows Vista. XP 64 all the way. I built this monstrosity from parts purchased on NewEgg.com. The BEST place to buy computer parts and even some software and by far the lowest prices. (there ya go newegg, free advertising) So now that I've sufficiently verified my geekyness, I'll add to it.

I love a good narrative. From books to comics to television to movies, I love a good story that can captivate you and keep you on the edge of your seat. I'm currently re-reading the Lord of the Rings and am finding it very hard to put down this time through. I love to read books at work between in-bound flights. I hate that I'll stay up till four a.m. just to finish off a good book (Harry Potter books anyone). I love to read old school novels and stories. The Sherlock Holmes stories are fantastic reads. So yeah, I'm a bookworm.

Well written television. Huh, a rare thing in this generation of "Reality TV." Some prime shows, in my opinion, would include: J.J. Abram's Alias. It started well... we'll leave it at that. West Wing, Star Trek TNG and Voyager, Heroes, Joss Whedon's Firefly as well as his currently running Dollhouse. (Start watching it! It's amazing!!) And as for a great Saturday afternoon, what better than a matinee while scarfing down some buttery popcorn. Yesterday I went and saw State of Play and was thoroughly impressed! I would definitely recommend it.

A good song. Something you can blast on your car stereo and sing at the top of your lungs while cruising down I-15.

Okay, last but certainly not least, I love my family. I really do! I get along with my siblings so well. So many of my friends are just shocked when I tell them that I like to be around my brothers and sisters. I'm so lucky to have them! The bonus of my siblings and their awesome spouses, is that I'm the favorite uncle! I also love my parents. They're so nice to take me back in at the age of 26 and let me stay at home. So here's my plug for my amazing family.

New Zealand- better late than never...

2009-04-12T14:45:00.010-06:00

Okay so last month I went down under to visit the amazing country that is New Zealand. I haven't posted on this trip till now because I've been drowning between having to move home to Kaysville and SkyWest's layoffs. So I've finally gotten a moment to upload some highlight pictures from my trip to Picasa for those who would like to skim through the pictures. Below I'm pasting a clip from my journal that I wrote while in Christchurch, NZ on a rainy day:

From New Zealand

Yesterday I took a day tour out to Gough's Bay and Akarora just south of Christchurch. Gough's Bay is on private land owned by a farmer who also happens to own the horse that played Shadowfax (reference Peter Jackson's LOTR films) in the Two Towers. That was a fun tidbit. Our guide, Matt, fished out some Paua from the rocks of the bay. It's a mussel that is common in the south Pacific. He showed me how to scoop the mussel out of it's shell and gut it. It was fun to eat something fresh from the water again. It felt like scout camp again. Only without the adolecent awkwardness. Watching the seals, sheep and gulls from camping chairs I stood amazed again at the world that I live in. There were two other tourist on the day trip with me. The english girl (Danielle?) and the German chick, who's name I forget, were interesting personalities to meet. Though a bit on the un-energetic side. Matt drove us from the bay out to Akatora, kind like a Sausalito in it's own way. Beautiful and expensive. I kayaked alone out into the harbor and saw some of the most majestic coastlines I've ever seen. The best part was the strain (or lack there of) on my upper body. Kayaking is such an intensive exercise for shoulders and arms and I was thrilled at how little it affected me. Shows that the gym actually does pay off. (That and lifting people's luggage) A few years ago an activity like that would have had me winded and I'd be doubled over in child-like fits but not anymore. It was invigorating.
The trip back to Christchurch was un eventful. Once back I skipped on buying tickets to a local rugby match (which I totally regret) and watched it on the tube from the hole in the wall pub attatched to my hostel. The locals lost, so when the pub crawl came through it was more like a funeral procession with all participants angry because the deceased owed them money. I had always wanted to witness a pub-crawl and last night I was sorely dissappointed. I retired about midnight with no set plans for the day that would follow.
Well tomorrow came and with it rain. I wanted to take a run to the beach, but doesn't look like it's gonna happen. With no other promising tours and no good books to read (Naked, by Sadaris is remarkably annoying) I sit contemplating life while it rains.

Luckily the next day was beautiful weather and I went off to the New Brighton beach to play in the waves and get sunburned! I then found a used book store and bought a first edition of the Simarillion by Tolkien. It was such a fun trip! I honestly think I'm going to try and go back next November.

Just staying put....

2009-03-12T23:07:00.002-06:00

So I know that many of you have probably seen on the news that SkyWest Airlines will be cutting back on employees. They're calling it "furloughing" while the majority of their employees are calling it a smack in the face. Anyway, SkyWest Airlines will be reducing the number of agents operating their flights out of the Salt Lake International Airport starting on May 15th. This reduction encompasses some 300+ agents from rampers to customer service. Delta is the large ax behind the curtain that's calling for this reduction though SkyWest is definitely not making it any easier. The afore mentioned "furlough" is only for 90 days and only offers a $500 pay out to full time employees. OUCH! And because they call it a "furlough" our happy little Utah grown corporation doesn't have to pay un-employment to those agents and will gladly allow the Utah government to pick up the slack. So everyone who lives in Utah be sure to thank Jerry Atkin next time you see him, he's adding 300 more people to the unemployment line at the tax payers expense.

Now that's the worst of it. I'm making my company out to be the big bad but its not. It's just the owners. The workers and managers and everyone in between are all trying their best to keep this massacre to a minimum. But when all is said and done it's gonna be a sad day on May 15th, but luckily not for me. I have been with the company long enough that my head hasn't been placed on the chopping block so for now I'm employed and very happy to be. My heart does reach out to all of my friends who will not be at the end of this mess that Atlanta, GA (Delta's HQ) has created.

Anniversaries, Blind Spots and Dumbbells

2009-02-03T23:35:00.011-07:00

The small, purring, bundle on my chest tries to do everything in her power to keep me from accomplishing any task on my computer. Conveniently enough, her small head becomes a very large blur in my field of vision. This happens when objects are inches from your face. Thankfully I my laptop is a widescreen so if I tilt my head to the side and minimize Chrome to use 1/3 of the screen I can thwart Mimi's intervention against my digital addiction. So if my formatting doesn't look quite right, I blame the feline.

When I went to the gym earlier this morning I was reminded of my inferiority once again. It was triceps/chest day. I watched my face grimace in the mirror as I put up 110lb on the bench press. (I hate the fact that all the walls in the gym are lined with mirrors. Not everyone who goes to work out is a narcissist.) Winded, I'd sit up after a set and look at the reflection to my left. Under Armor stretched across his "rippling pectorals," the guy next to me is putting up over 200lbs. He's benching more than I weigh! After his disgustingly impressive set is over he stands up and nonchalantly flexes his muscles. Perfectly messy hair rests a top his head. His dentist bleached teeth are accentuated by his tan skin that he bought next door at the salon. He's perfect.

When I compare my skinny, white, bald frame to this physical perfection I don't necessarily despair. No, I don't think about how I'll never achieve that kind of perfection without massive amounts of plastic surgery. No. I just think about how great it would be to watch him crumple if he were, say, bashed over the head with a barbell. Morbid? Yeah. But I feel content knowing that when it all comes down to it, he's just as fragile as the rest of us when hit in the head with a solid metal object.

Now I know that's terrible to think. I really do feel bad for condemning those who have been genetically blessed with physical perfection. The payoff comes, however, when the meathead opens his mouth and the stream of stupidity ventures forth onto the ears of the world. Then I don't feel so bad.

The rest of the day was uneventful, filled with bill payments and software downloads while watching broadway musicals on DVD. The day was finished over pizza with friends at the Tea Grotto in Sugarhouse. We disscussed such deep topics as 'who is allowed to wear sleeveless shirts and who not.'

One more thing to point out about to day, it is my four year anniversary at SkyWest Airlines. I've held my job for four long years! With the economy as scary as it is I'm sure I'll be holding this job for a year or two more until my talents become marketable once again. No real complaints can be uttered since this job has provided me with countless opportunities for travel. I also am glad of the amazing people I've been able to work with over the years. The crew at the airport is part of what makes my job worth doing. I would, however, like to land a job where I am using my talents and making a decent wage off of them. So here's to four years, and hopefully not four more....

Survived

2009-01-30T17:10:00.003-07:00

This morning I picked up Mimi, and her sister Sadie, at the clinic. Both were definitely out of sorts. I could tell by the look on my cats face that she was bewildered and a little pissed off about what I allowed to happen to her. None the less. She was more than affectionate when I pulled her out of her carrier and gave her a hug. They're both so exhausted from their ordeal that I snapped this moment. If you've ever seen them together you would know this never happens:

A benefit comes from my babysitting my parent's cat while they're out of town this weekend. I have access to a television signal. Not just any signal... dish! The plus side to this you ask? I get to watch Battlestar Galactica on SciFi tonight! YEAH! No hulu for me this week. We're down to the last episodes folks and I cannot tell you how much I'm freakin out about how it's gonna end up. Apollo for President!

*I honestly hope no one is offended by the reference this picture makes to Da Vinci's famous work. I just thought it was too good to not post Battlestar's latest cast shot.*

Sinks, Drinks and Failures

2009-01-22T00:07:00.005-07:00

I didn't get the job. I know, sad. But in all honesty I'm not surprised. I was completely unqualified for the position for which I was applying. (For those un-aware, I was applying for a Flash Developer job within SkyWest Airlines) The positive side to this is, I now have an idea of where I need to be proficiency wise to get a job in my field. UVU has definitely left me short in the training department so I have a lot of work to do on my own. But, I still have my flight benefits so I will be taking time to expand my knowledge of our world while expanding my knowledge of my career.

A very frightening event is on the horizon for Mimi. Getting "fixed." The date is set and there's no turning back. I honestly don't know how I'm going to drop her off for a day in the hands of strangers. (attachment issues? yeah, little bit) My mom's kitten, and Mimi's sister, Sadie, will also be along for the ride. Wish me luck on trying to get those two cats into carriers without losing a limb.

Just updated my playlist on the right. Check it out======>

In the spirit of my sister-in-law, Penny's love of a certain cereal, I have to shout out my love for a certain drink. Thank the powers above for the creation of strawberry milk.

2009 and a Bowl of Sugar

2009-01-02T10:54:00.002-07:00

This year I started things off big. I fell asleep on my couch around 9:30pm and woke up around 12:15am. I picked up the cat off my chest, walked to my room and went right back to sleep! It was great! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

No resolutions to put here. I honestly don't believe in them. If I have something I want to get better at or work on, I won't wait until a new year starts to do it. So I'm still going to be lazy ole me till I find the motivation to do something with my life.

Tonight the Utes play Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in MSY (New Orleans for those who don't know airport codes) and I'm pretty excited that my brother Ryan is hosting a party to watch it tonight. Cheer on the Utes everyone! I don't care if you like that other school in Provo who's name we don't mention, support the state! :)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T22:29:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone, or Happy Holidays or Hanukkah or whatever you believe in. I hope you're enjoying this time of year!

Cat or the Condo

2008-12-23T13:33:00.004-07:00

So I am sitting at an impasse and I need opinions.
My awesome real estate agent, James, found a condo for me. It's within my price range. The location is PRIME! (1st ave just off state street in SLC) and the condo itself is perfect. A one bedroom with lots of space and a view of the avenues and capitol hill.
So what's holding me back? My four month old kitten. They don't accept pets in the HOA. GRRRRR! What kind of people make a rule like that!? If I'm buying the place why are they allowed to stipulate who lives with me? I've had roommates that are messier and more destructive than my kitten.
And thats where I stand today. I've had my agent start looking for small houses but none of them will be anywhere near where I want to live. I've considered asking a sibling if they'd be willing to adopt my kitten. With that in mind. Do I take the condo and drop the cat? Or keep the cat and lose out on a great place to live?

deep breaths, deep breaths

2008-12-10T23:29:00.002-07:00

Finals are in full swing.
I have two projects left to finish.
Mimi (the cat) jumped into the wall last night chasing a shadow. (yes, I typed that correctly, she jumped. Full speed, running leap into the wall. I felt so bad but couldn't help laughing)
I realized I should never go more than two weeks without the gym, not pretty.
I have two projects left to finish.
I should be working on projects.

POV

2008-11-21T16:06:00.003-07:00

She's lost her baby fur and is lookin more like a cat than a kitten but she's still cute.

for kicks and giggles

2008-11-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Fail Blog!

Sardines, Propositions and Ballots

2008-11-11T00:07:00.007-07:00

Tonight I attended Pioneer Theatre Company's 'Noises Off.'

Being a fan of the hollywood version starring Carol Brunette I felt obligated to see the stage version. Jenn, from work, was kind enough to join me. I was not disappointed. Though the language was more "colorful" than the film the play was fantastic. The tempo was fast and the actors kept up beautifully. I have to say it was brilliant. I honestly couldn't find any extensive weak links in their cast. All played their parts so well. The timing of the physical humor was by far what made the play, and my hats are off to the players and the director for the time put into making the gags work so well with the space they had. A great show to see folks, it will have you rolling.

We have a newly elected President!

I'm thrilled that Obama won the election. I know many people reading this voted republican but I must say I voted democrat this year. While I don't agree with his economic plan of throwing more money around I was won over by Obama's health care and his desire to bring this war to an end. I honestly feel that he will be the best candidate for improving our image on an international stage. Lets face it, we need to get along with the other people on this planet so it's best to have someone represent us that they like. So with that said I will be counting down to January 20, 2009 when the new president will be sworn in.

Among the items on the ballot last week, California voters were given the chance to vote on Proposition 8. This proposition obliterates the equal rights law that states that anyone has the right to marry. This proposition sadly passed. I know I'm a minority in Utah when it comes to this subject but I seriously can't find gay marriage dangerous, evil or in any way the end of the world. I won't get into my reason or defend myself on this here. So, if you wanna duke it out the subject, e-mail me or give me a call.
Anyway, I attended a protest last week against the LDS Church's involvement in the passing of Prop 8 and was very impressed the the result. Over 4,000 were recorded to be in attendance. No violence or fights ensued. The speakers from the legislature and public leaders were fantastic. The march around Temple square was impressive just because of the shear numbers. I was amazed at the result. I know the LDS church is populated with great people but the political involvement and financial involvement was not right. The LDS church has made it very clear they are not to be involved in matters of state and yet look what happened! So here's my little shout out against church involvement in state matters.

For kicks and giggles

2008-11-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Google Images

2008-10-28T16:38:00.019-06:00

Okay, so Lacy and Ann have both participated in this Blog tag and I thought it looked like fun. You answer each item on this list. Then take each answer and plug it into Google Image Search. Find an image in the first two pages (note: the images don't have to fit. Just pic the image you like most) and post it on the answer.

1 First name
2 Last name
3 Bad habit
4 What I did last weekend
5 Grandmother’s name
6 Past pet
7 First job
8 Dream job
9 Age
10 Where you grew up
11 Past love
12 Best friend’s nickname
13 Favorite place to be
14 If I went back to school I’d become
15 Love to visit
16 Favorite color
17 Favorite food
18 Hero

Here we go!
1. First Name

2. Last Name

3. Bad Habit

4. What I did last weekend

5. Grandmother's Name

6. A past pet

7. First Job

8. Dream Job

9. Age

10. Where you grew up

11. Past Love

12. Best friend's nickname

13. Favorite Place

14. If I went back to school I'd become

15. Love to visit

16. Favorite Color

17. Favorite Food

18. Hero- (Note: I didn't put Christ as my hero. I actually put Abe Lincon butthis pic was too funny)

Canadians, Kittens and Crappy Colds

2008-10-28T15:54:00.013-06:00

Over fall break (Oct 16-17 for UVU) I needed to get out of town. So I called up my buddy Dalin and jetted off to the great north west. It rained in Vancouver the entire trip. Footin it across town, in the pouring rain, has since resulted in a pretty crappy cold but I guess that's what I get for flying free. Dalin and I were detained once AGAIN at immigration because we just look so dangerous to the Canadian people. We waited in line for bout 1/2 for them to stamp our papers and send us on our way. ugh.

View of the Pacific. Vancouver is one of the largest shipping port on this Coast. Didn't know that before.

We stayed in a great hostel that was all sorts of fun. We were put in Room #99 (located on the third floor between 303 and 305). When we got up to the room a piece of paper hung from the door and simply said "the Whale Room." The inside was painted with a huge mural that covered the entire room. And it was no small surface to paint.Here I am paddling along on the top bunk.

The true depth of our room.

The Burrard Street Bridge. Don't know why I look confused but that's nothing new.

Down the walk and across the way from the bridge sat a little market that I hadn't found on my first visit. Gransville Island Public Market. It was soooooo cool. If I lived there I'd be shopping there every day for my food! Fresh fish, fruit (like the ones Dalin is modeling below), veggies, and the baked goods! Oh my good frickin crap!

Exploring the island was good times. All sorts of nooks and crannies and ghetto stores and unused train tracks and marinas and everything!

And, as in Toronto, Dalin and I found a random park that was brilliantly designed to cause injury. Dalin insisted on going down the metal slide in the rain. Luckily no damage was incurred. Didn't get many shots of that park but we did snap this one: (read the sign carefully before you dis the pose)

Back home we've had a few issues with glasses being tipped over in my apartment. Here is the reason for this:

Apparently the water dish just isn't how she likes it.
I also have been having an issue with getting my homework done. Again, here's the reason:

Fours

2008-10-13T11:22:00.006-06:00

Okay, I've been tagged (Thanks Elise) so here we go!
Here is the fourth picture in the fourth file of my picture library.
This is a picture of the Water Tower in Blackwell Oklahoma. It was taken in January 2005 when I was driving home from Orlando and was diverted by an Ice Storm. Definitely one of the most inconvenient days in my life. I was driving the black Ford Ranger (for those of you who remember) and I was watching semis slide off the freeway behind me and in front of me so I decided it was time to get off the road myself before the storm pushed me off.
I was forced to stay in a little run-down Motel 8 place and wait out the storm. The picture above was taken the next morning while leaving town. Everything was frozen! Every single blade of grass was an icicle! Here are a few more shots to illustrate...

And of course, we can't forget the truck that ALMOST made the trip. (The little stop in Dallas to fix the breaks wasn't fun. Or Cheap)

Now, on with Business!
Four more people, whom I will tag, have to (well you don't have to, but its a fun posting idea and you should,) participate and post about the fourth picture in their forth file of their photo library.

So TAG! You're it:
Penny
Supa Cam
Heather
Dave M.

Mimi

2008-10-08T12:49:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday I adopted. I now have a bouncing baby girl. Her name is Mimi. She's a bundle of energy and makes it very hard to sleep at night. Here she is.

Now the hardest part of this new addition to my life is the stress this has put on my roommate's cat. Devin has already proven himself to be slightly neurotic, but he's proven to be far worse. Most of Monday and Tuesday he spent on top of the fridge hiding behind the microwave. Yes, this fifteen pound tom cat is scared of my one pound kitten. We honestly can't understand where his issues come from but he definitely has them. Today has been better however. They have actually begun to look at each other without big kitty running for the fridge. They were even playing with other. Mimi received quite a smack to the head from the big guy but over all I think things are goin well. Lets hope it keeps up.

Composites, Public Safety and Applications

2008-09-30T21:07:00.004-06:00

First things first, I just finished my Graduation Application. I have to admit that I was slightly excited when I filled out the "How your name will appear on your degree" section. I'm actually going to graduate. So as of December (if all goes well) I will finally be done.
With my graduation comes a long list of "What next?"
I honestly don't know. I have tons of things I want to do. Lots of places I'd like to work. Places to go, people to meet. Stuff like that. Finding a career will be put on hold till my portfolio is more developed. I've been doing a lot of research into jobs and I'm far from ready. Places like Weta, the Embassy, the Orphanage, the Asylum, ILM, and Rhythm and Hues all require some extensive knowledge and work experience that I don't have. (I'm adding a list at the side of the page of all the places I'd like to work. Check them out.
As for the rest, I'm going to travel and do freelance etc till I can apply for a studio or something. Then my parents will be able to relax and not worry about me.

Last part of the day. I appealed to Orem City's Public Safety Department in regards to a parking ticket I received last week. It was $25 for parking in a neighborhood that required a permit. Well the street I parked on was not labeled and I had no way of knowing it was restricted. So I appealed. Well the nice OLD man at the city informed me that I was in the wrong and that I should have known that I needed a permit (once again, no signs were present) and that my appeal was poorly written. He apparently had issues with grammar and syntax. But on top of all my faults he didn't give me the ticket. The charge for getting my 25 bucks back (oh yes, I had to pay it up front. So much for innocent until proven guilty) was to be humiliated but a cranky old man.

Storyboards and Sleep

2008-09-12T02:26:00.003-06:00

I woke up and rode the 8:17am bus to UVU.
I met with my Advisor (The amazing Bonnie) at 9:00am
I had breakfast at 9:30am
I attempted to focus on my homework till noon.
I ate lunch
I had class from 1:00-3:00pm
I worked on my group animation project till 6:00pm
I ate dinner
I worked on my group animation project
1:30am, I mooch a ride home with Aaron (in my project team)
I go to bed at 2:30am

"Bad Day"- by Dan Powter
Playlist on the right====>

All things considered I'm not angry or frustrated. It was a good day. Just very long.

Muscle and Plaid

2008-09-07T12:39:00.006-06:00

Small post today, just wanted to put up a picture of what I want for Christmas. In case any of you hit the lotto this year.
I spent Labor-Day weekend in Park City with friends and they happened to have this awesome Mustang show goin on down Main Street. Every kind of mustang ever made! It was fantastic.
This is me standing next to my future ride while modeling my fabulous new shorts. I love these shorts. They're long enough to actually cover my bright white legs. They're comfy. I love them... until the other day when someone approached me and told me that a tablecloth has never looked so good. Granted they were telling me I was cute but they were totally dissin on my new pantalones. I guess plaid just ain't workin for me. hehe

"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."
- Mark Twain

Mario Kart, Delta Benefits and the New York Times

2008-08-24T15:28:00.006-06:00

Mario Kart... there is honestly nothing more to say. It's freakin awesome! My sister was kind enough to give me a gift certificate for flying her and her daughters out here on my buddy passes (just wait, I'll get to that)and so I was able to purchase my much anticipated game! I must admit that I've been playing it far too much, and I know that I'm going to have to lock it away later this week when school starts, but for now I'm rockin out in Sherbet Land N64.

So yeah, buddy passes...

I flew my sister Amy and her two daughters out to Salt Lake City using my airline benefits. Not such a cool benefit anymore. Thanks to the fuel crisis and our continued drop in the economy Delta has been cutting back flights and the size of aircraft that they fly. Less seats, more oversold flights and no room for non-revs (non-revenue passengers flying on employee benefits as standbys). Not that it wasn't a joy for the whole family to have them home for a week. I wouldn't take it back. But now my sister is attempting to get back to Wisconsin this afternoon via Chicago and there just aren't enough seats. The stress and the worry out do the discounted cost of flying. I can't think of any reason I would want to inflict this situation on any more of my family or friends in the future. Keep your fingers crossed for the girls that they make it home.

And now for a random but interesting addition, here is something my buddy Dave shared with me that I think you should read if you have the time (just don't let your spouse read it too):

New York Times
June 25, 2006
Modern Love
What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage
By AMY SUTHERLAND

As I wash dishes at the kitchen sink, my husband paces behind me, irritated. "Have you seen my keys?" he snarls, then huffs out a loud sigh and stomps from the room with our dog, Dixie, at his heels, anxious over her favorite human's upset.

In the past I would have been right behind Dixie. I would have turned off the faucet and joined the hunt while trying to soothe my husband with bromides like, "Don't worry, they'll turn up." But that only made him angrier, and a simple case of missing keys soon would become a full-blown angst-ridden drama starring the two of us and our poor nervous dog.

Now, I focus on the wet dish in my hands. I don't turn around. I don't say a word. I'm using a technique I learned from a dolphin trainer.

I love my husband. He's well read, adventurous and does a hysterical rendition of a northern Vermont accent that still cracks me up after 12 years of marriage.

But he also tends to be forgetful, and is often tardy and mercurial. He hovers around me in the kitchen asking if I read this or that piece in The New Yorker when I'm trying to concentrate on the simmering pans. He leaves wadded tissues in his wake. He suffers from serious bouts of spousal deafness but never fails to hear me when I mutter to myself on the other side of the house. "What did you say?" he'll shout.

These minor annoyances are not the stuff of separation and divorce, but in sum they began to dull my love for Scott. I wanted — needed — to nudge him a little closer to perfect, to make him into a mate who might annoy me a little less, who wouldn't keep me waiting at restaurants, a mate who would be easier to love.

So, like many wives before me, I ignored a library of advice books and set about improving him. By nagging, of course, which only made his behavior worse: he'd drive faster instead of slower; shave less frequently, not more; and leave his reeking bike garb on the bedroom floor longer than ever.

We went to a counselor to smooth the edges off our marriage. She didn't understand what we were doing there and complimented us repeatedly on how well we communicated. I gave up. I guessed she was right — our union was better than most — and resigned myself to stretches of slow-boil resentment and occasional sarcasm.

Then something magical happened. For a book I was writing about a school for exotic animal trainers, I started commuting from Maine to California, where I spent my days watching students do the seemingly impossible: teaching hyenas to pirouette on command, cougars to offer their paws for a nail clipping, and baboons to skateboard.

I listened, rapt, as professional trainers explained how they taught dolphins to flip and elephants to paint. Eventually it hit me that the same techniques might work on that stubborn but lovable species, the American husband.

The central lesson I learned from exotic animal trainers is that I should reward behavior I like and ignore behavior I don't. After all, you don't get a sea lion to balance a ball on the end of its nose by nagging. The same goes for the American husband.

Back in Maine, I began thanking Scott if he threw one dirty shirt into the hamper. If he threw in two, I'd kiss him. Meanwhile, I would step over any soiled clothes on the floor without one sharp word, though I did sometimes kick them under the bed. But as he basked in my appreciation, the piles became smaller.

I was using what trainers call "approximations," rewarding the small steps toward learning a whole new behavior. You can't expect a baboon to learn to flip on command in one session, just as you can't expect an American husband to begin regularly picking up his dirty socks by praising him once for picking up a single sock. With the baboon you first reward a hop, then a bigger hop, then an even bigger hop. With Scott the husband, I began to praise every small act every time: if he drove just a mile an hour slower, tossed one pair of shorts into the hamper, or was on time for anything.

I also began to analyze my husband the way a trainer considers an exotic animal. Enlightened trainers learn all they can about a species, from anatomy to social structure, to understand how it thinks, what it likes and dislikes, what comes easily to it and what doesn't. For example, an elephant is a herd animal, so it responds to hierarchy. It cannot jump, but can stand on its head. It is a vegetarian.

The exotic animal known as Scott is a loner, but an alpha male. So hierarchy matters, but being in a group doesn't so much. He has the balance of a gymnast, but moves slowly, especially when getting dressed. Skiing comes naturally, but being on time does not. He's an omnivore, and what a trainer would call food-driven.

Once I started thinking this way, I couldn't stop. At the school in California, I'd be scribbling notes on how to walk an emu or have a wolf accept you as a pack member, but I'd be thinking, "I can't wait to try this on Scott."

On a field trip with the students, I listened to a professional trainer describe how he had taught African crested cranes to stop landing on his head and shoulders. He did this by training the leggy birds to land on mats on the ground. This, he explained, is what is called an "incompatible behavior," a simple but brilliant concept.

Rather than teach the cranes to stop landing on him, the trainer taught the birds something else, a behavior that would make the undesirable behavior impossible. The birds couldn't alight on the mats and his head simultaneously.

At home, I came up with incompatible behaviors for Scott to keep him from crowding me while I cooked. To lure him away from the stove, I piled up parsley for him to chop or cheese for him to grate at the other end of the kitchen island. Or I'd set out a bowl of chips and salsa across the room. Soon I'd done it: no more Scott hovering around me while I cooked.

I followed the students to SeaWorld San Diego, where a dolphin trainer introduced me to least reinforcing syndrome (L. R. S.). When a dolphin does something wrong, the trainer doesn't respond in any way. He stands still for a few beats, careful not to look at the dolphin, and then returns to work. The idea is that any response, positive or negative, fuels a behavior. If a behavior provokes no response, it typically dies away.

In the margins of my notes I wrote, "Try on Scott!"

It was only a matter of time before he was again tearing around the house searching for his keys, at which point I said nothing and kept at what I was doing. It took a lot of discipline to maintain my calm, but results were immediate and stunning. His temper fell far shy of its usual pitch and then waned like a fast-moving storm. I felt as if I should throw him a mackerel.

Now he's at it again; I hear him banging a closet door shut, rustling through papers on a chest in the front hall and thumping upstairs. At the sink, I hold steady. Then, sure enough, all goes quiet. A moment later, he walks into the kitchen, keys in hand, and says calmly, "Found them."

Without turning, I call out, "Great, see you later."

Off he goes with our much-calmed pup.

After two years of exotic animal training, my marriage is far smoother, my husband much easier to love. I used to take his faults personally; his dirty clothes on the floor were an affront, a symbol of how he didn't care enough about me. But thinking of my husband as an exotic species gave me the distance I needed to consider our differences more objectively.

I adopted the trainers' motto: "It's never the animal's fault." When my training attempts failed, I didn't blame Scott. Rather, I brainstormed new strategies, thought up more incompatible behaviors and used smaller approximations. I dissected my own behavior, considered how my actions might inadvertently fuel his. I also accepted that some behaviors were too entrenched, too instinctive to train away. You can't stop a badger from digging, and you can't stop my husband from losing his wallet and keys.

PROFESSIONALS talk of animals that understand training so well they eventually use it back on the trainer. My animal did the same. When the training techniques worked so beautifully, I couldn't resist telling my husband what I was up to. He wasn't offended, just amused. As I explained the techniques and terminology, he soaked it up. Far more than I realized.

Last fall, firmly in middle age, I learned that I needed braces. They were not only humiliating, but also excruciating. For weeks my gums, teeth, jaw and sinuses throbbed. I complained frequently and loudly. Scott assured me that I would become used to all the metal in my mouth. I did not.

One morning, as I launched into yet another tirade about how uncomfortable I was, Scott just looked at me blankly. He didn't say a word or acknowledge my rant in any way, not even with a nod.

I quickly ran out of steam and started to walk away. Then I realized what was happening, and I turned and asked, "Are you giving me an L. R. S.?" Silence. "You are, aren't you?"

He finally smiled, but his L. R. S. has already done the trick. He'd begun to train me, the American wife.

Amy Sutherland is the author of "Kicked, Bitten and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers" (Viking, June 2006). She lives in Boston and in Portland, Me.

Chasing the Rain

2008-08-10T19:56:00.005-06:00

It was a hot day at work. I watched from my vantage point at the B-gates as the deep storms clouds loomed over the Salt Lake Valley. The clouds didn't seem interested in the little airport that sat west of downtown and so didn't grace me with their company. I continued to look at the storm, reseeding over the mountains, as more sweat rolled off my sunburned scalp. I can't tell you how disappointed I was with the wind for not bringing the storm my way.
Now, I've always loved storms. I love the way they the sky darkens making the world into something mysterious. I love the smell just before it rains. I love the sound of raindrops scattering off the windshield. I love the energy that runs through my body and makes me excited when the wind blows. So it was no surprise that I took a small detour when I left the employee parking lot at five.
As I merged onto I-15 from the west I could see a section of Sugarhouse that was getting sprinkled with rain. My toasted skull and my dry, sweaty clothes just made the rain seem so appetizing. As the I-80 east interchange approached I didn't have a choice.
I raced up the freeway with my window down catching the scent of the moisture in the air. The smell of wet concrete hit next which meant I wasn't far. But the storm must have seen me because it started to retreat over the peaks of the Wasatch Front. It was a game now. Just as I passed Sugarhouse the first drops hit my hood. The road ahead was soaked but the clouds rolled on. I was about to lose! I went with my gut as I hit the gas and barreled up Parley's Canyon.
After fifteen minutes of Cat and Mouse up the canyon my car showed signs of the chase with rain streaked across the windshield. The temperatures had dropped and the rain was picking up. I had him! The storm was mine. I knew I would be engulfed when I hit Kimball Junction. Then he seemed to catch a second wind and started to move ahead. CRAP! I jetted past Kimball Junction and took the highway 40 exit to Heber and jumped off the freeway at the first exit labeled Silver Summit. I parked in an empty lot and got out to enjoy the tail of the storm that I had caught. The smell of wet sage and cold mountain air was exactly what I needed. I stood in the lot for twenty minutes before the storm sauntered its way off into Wyoming. The sun was visible again but he couldn't ruin the mood. I was satisfied and proud that I had caught a storm.

Reservoirs, Phones, Vampires

2008-08-03T12:36:00.006-06:00

First off, my phone is back. After some bad communication and a lot of confusion I now have my phone again. Wahoo!
Next up, yesterday my family had an outing on the lake up at Pineview. It was a good night:

Mia looks like she's posing to be the next Coppertone baby. :)

This last image is my favorite place to be at the end of the day on Pineview. As the sun's coming up the canyon it looks fantastic. I wish I could actually capture it the way I see it.

Last of all, I have a very sad confession to make. I pre-ordered 'Breaking Dawn' on Amazon. (For those of you who are reading this and thinking that maybe some crazy lovesick teenage girl has taken over my blog that's not the case. Its sadly true, I have been pulled into the vampire stories of Stephanie Meyers 'Twilight' novels. Not that I love the romance novel factor by any means. I feel at times that I want to just kill Edward so that she will stop describing hot pretty he is! I just love vampire stories.) I was under the impression, however, that it would be here yesterday. It won't arrive until the 9th. Grrrr... I don't want to wait.

Phone

2008-07-27T10:09:00.002-06:00

As of last night my phone has gone missing. Not sure if it was simply misplaced or if it was stolen but never the less, I have no contact with the world. What's surprising is that I actually am excited at the prospect of being cut off from society. Maybe now I can finish my book.

my POV

2008-07-22T23:23:00.002-06:00

-taken on a Canon Rebel XT f/5.6, exp 6s, ISO 200-

Knights, Frisbies and CS 711

2008-07-21T09:57:00.003-06:00

MOVIE REVIEW:

I've been putting this one off because I haven't been able to put my thoughts together about The Dark Knight. The movie scared me a bit. Not in the "jump out of your pants" scary but the "socially way too accurate" scary. There is a lot of commentary in that film. I honestly can't say much more than the fact that it's very dark, but it was amazing. See it for yourself.

Saturday afternoon was looking to be a very unproductive day. I was certain to spend my whole evening sitting in front of my roommates huge TV watching Star Trek Voyager. I didn't like that thought of another wasted day so I called my cousin, Stephanie, and asked her if she wanted have a picnic.
We met up at her place just east of Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City. With a mixed salad and a jug of Lemonade in hand we walked down the street to a picnic table and had our very Brian Jacques/Redwall Feast next to a babbling brook. (Jacques is author of my favorite fantasy series when I was in elementary. In case you were wondering.) After consuming the greens we took a tour of Steph's neighborhood and then tossed a frisbe back and forth at Memory Grove Park. It was a perfect evening. Everyone was out walking their dogs in the park or taking Bridals. The air coming down the canyon made it so comfortable that you just wanted to sit and enjoy. Thanks Stephanie!

CS 711 is the computer lab at Utah Valley University designated for 3D modeling and Animation. This is my lab! So today I got up early so I could get some extra work done and get set up for fall semester. Yeah, not so much. Lab hours are posted Mon-Fri from 9am-6pm. But the tech guys (most certainly my least favorite employees at UVU due to their charming demeanor and people skills)decided that since only a few people were using the lab they were just going to shut it down. Not just lock the door, oh no. The lab has been disconnected from the server farm and will not be available until fall semester starts, assuming they can get it put together again. GRRRR! I came all the way out to Utah County today to be productive and school has made that impossible! I can't believe this place! I cannot wait till I graduate! Curse you UVU!!!!!!
So here I sit outside the lab on my laptop doing what I can before I head back to SLC. Such a waste of campus resources.

Canyons, Waterfalls and Memories

2008-07-15T23:16:00.005-06:00

My friend Natalie and her friend Jenny (I hope I got her name right) love to hit the trails around the Wasatch front. When she told me this yesterday I suggested they should hike Adam's Canyon near my parent's house. Being spontaneous and all amounts of crazy Natalie jumped on the idea. We were to meet the next morning (today) on Trax heading north bout 9:30am so we could catch the Frontrunner to Kaysville. To make a long story short we had issues with the newer Presta valve on Natalie's Bike. Everyone in the group not being morning people and transportation issues. Yeah, we ended up getting to Kaysville bout 11am.
(Side note: this is for Natalie's benefit. I gave Natalie a lot of crap this morning because she didn't know how to fill up a bike tire with a Presta valve on it. I acted all big and bad since I had one on my bike and knew how to use it. Only thing is I kept calling it a PELTIE nozzle all morning. No idea where I got it from but I said it with authority and I was totally off!) Here's and image of the two different valves used on bike tubes.
Anyway, we made it to Kaysville, rode our bikes to my parent's house, stole the car (thanks Dad, hope you're having fun in Toronto) and drove to the base of the Canyon.
It was beautiful! I haven't seen the canyon this green in years! I really wish I had hauled my camera up there and gotten some shots. Fantastic! (I'm going again next week and I promise I'll document this time) We made it to the falls in a little under and hour. (Slow, I know) and enjoyed the air conditioning coming from the falls. After truckin it back down, grabbing some popsicles and water we caught the train back to SLC. Covered in dust and water, exhausted from the hike, I loaded up my Cavalier with the bike at 2100 South Trax station and made for home. I was beat. I crashed on the couch for about fifteen minutes before I had to get ready for work. I kept nodding off at work (don't worry, I wasn't pushing back any planes) even with the screaming of the jet engines around me. 9:30pm rolled around and I was outta there. After soaking myself in a hot hot shower I put my pajama shorts on (inside out I might add) I just realized this as I'm typing,(any other signs of my fatigue?) locked the door to my room and have gone into hibernation. Good Night!

Before I forget, I've now been tagged twice on this so I had better do it:

*Memory Lane*
Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. C'mon now, anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me?? (for posterity sake, and my Parents, lets try to keep these fun filled stories PG. lol)

Turning the page...

2008-07-07T15:28:00.005-06:00

I know I just posted yesterday but today demanded it. I learned today that I am no longer a Walt Disney World Castmember.
For the past four years since I participated in an internship in Florida I've been what's referred to as a "seasonal castmember" at the parks. I have only been required to work a few hours a year in return for park benefits and Disney discounts. I've loved having that job and just being able to say that I work for the Disney Company was fun. Well, working the system has finally caught up with me. I haven't worked the required amount of hours in the last year and so I have officially withdrawn as a castmember and would have to re-apply and work a full season in Disney World again to get my benefits back. Not gonna happen so I have resign myself to saying goodbye to one of my all time favorite jobs. Some of my best friends and best memories have come from working in WDW and I'll miss it!
Next stop the Walt Disney Studios! Cali or BUST!

Floridians and the Fourth of July

2008-07-06T21:32:00.008-06:00

So my best friend Dustin flew in from Orlando, Fl on Thursday night to visit. I hadn't seen him in a while and it was fantastic to have him come to Utah since I'm always going to Florida. Independence Day is my second favorite holiday next to Thanksgiving (I know, for shame, I'm not a Christmas fan) and so with the arrival of Dustin it was just "magical!" *forgive the Disney humor*

My family all rose early the morning of the 4th to run the Kaysville City 5K. While I honestly did better than most I was far from where I wanted to be. My time was just over 30 mins if I remember. I should honestly have done it in 25 minutes or less but thats what happens when medical recovery keeps you from training.

After the race my cousin Stephanie came over to my parents house and the three of us (Dustin, Steph and I) talked for over an hour about travels and great vacations and all sorts of great locations we've been to around the continent or the world.

Lunch followed with Spencer and Ryan bringing their families over. After lunch my nieces and nephew got on their swimsuits and had a water fight in the back yard. Libby was priceless. She kept having her dad fill up water balloons for her but they would break when she had to crawl down the porch stair. She tried at least four times before I finally noticed and carried her balloon for her while she tackled the stairs.

Grandpa was King of the Frog Pool.

Reese running back to Uncle Spencer for more ammo.

This was the dry section of the event, Dustin hangin with the Moms.

After the crazyness of hyper children with water-balloons Dustin and I left for SLC and scoped out a few places since Dustin had never been here before. We went up to the the University Primary Children's Hospital and found our spot for watching the fireworks. Here is the view in the day time, picture it with fireworks from six different cities going off at once.

Canadians, Cockroachs and the Sniffles

2008-06-29T13:31:00.013-06:00

Okay, this one has been long in coming and its going to be a big one so brace yourselves.

Last Thursday my buddy Dalin and I decided we needed to get out of town. We decided that we would do this around 10pm that night. Our flight left the next morning. And so within two hours our hostel was booked, information on public transit, maps and all other things needed before taking a trip were NOT written down and our bags were packed. Toronto here we came.

After my emigrating to Canada (I looked so suspicious that customs questioned me twice and I seriously thought that by the time I was done I'd have to declare Canadian citizenship just to get into the country) and then taking a full tour of the Toronto International Airport we were off. Bus 192 took us to the subway which took us downtown. We then got off at the stop furthest from our hostel and walked the distance. After a quick recovery nap we hit the town. They were having a jazz festival near the old city hall. People were crammed in around a tent listening to live jazz. I loved it. We then walked around and hit the local dance clubs and stuff to see what we could see. We met a Romanian, an Australian and a few folks from the British Isles and a whole assortment of fun people that you would only meet in a big city.

Next day we played tourist so here is the photo journal:

First things first, we walked five blocks from our hostel to CN Tower.
Standing 553.33 meters (1,815.39 ft) tall its the largest free standing structure in the Americas and is only surpassed by the Burj Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula. When reaching the platform you can walk around the exterior
or the interior and see all of Toronto and Lake Ontario below you. They even have a glass floor that you can stand on and look straight down. Honestly, it makes your stomach turn when you stand on it. A little old lady asked if she could hold onto my arm when she looked down.

Next we went back up town to check out the day scene. We came across the square at Younge and Dunas (streets) where Video Games Live was holding booths where you could play XBOX 360, PS3 and the Wii. The Wii had the best set up by far! These Smart cars were rigged with fold out flat screens and you could play the Mario Kart from the back of the car!
We also helped out a couple of teams doing a Toronto version of "the Amazing Race" by playing leap frog. Random and fun.

After that we entered the enormous Eaton Center Mall.... really, not work going in. Really. Its a big mall with expensive stuff and too many people.

We chucked uptown to Ryerson University and took a look at campus. A flasher walked by, that was odd. We then hit up the neighborhoods and found one of the coolest playgrounds ever! Two grown men fly to Toronto and what do we spend a hour doing? Playing on a kids bigtoy.

Seriously, this was the most dangerous playground ever designed and I loved it!

After recovery nap #2 we hit the town again with our Australian and the Brits. I had a hard time not adopting the accent as the night went on. After dancing the night away we hit the sack.

Before we flew out I slept in far too long and Dalin had to drag me out of bed and shove me down the stairs to check out and get ready for the day. We booked it down to the Lake and took a look at the Nautical Festival where they had a bunch of old Clipper ships from back in the day. It was soooooo cool to walk on board and see how things worked. They had actual working crews that ran these ships over the Great Lakes.

After passing this odd lawn sculpture set up we hopped the train (at the right station) and jetted back home to rest aching feet and sleep a long and deep sleep.

Next on the list, WALL.E

I took the train out to Davis County to watch it with the Parents. They're so nice to put up with me. We hit the 12:15 matinée at AMC Lowes theater. Wall.e was freaking adorable! Even his pet cockroach was cute. Definitely take everyone you know to see this movie. The story alone is worth the trip but the social commentary was fantastic. It had several great messages about how much we really affect each other and how one person can cause a ripple affect in others. The movie was done with minimal speech. I think the cast consists of only about 10 people. The rest was action and robot noises. A must see folks!

So now I'm chillin on a Sunday afternoon trying to survive allergies that are kicking in like crazy. I have Kleenex on my left and an assortment of broken computer parts on my right that I'm trying to fix. I'm attempting to install Vista 64 but my DVD drive burned out 2 days ago and my warranty was up 56 days ago (irony anyone?) so yeah. I'm taking things apart and fiddling. Anyone know a place I can get a really cheap Slim DVD RW?

Posting vs Sleeping...

2008-06-26T00:04:00.002-06:00

I really should post my blog about Toronto. I've been home since Sunday and I've had no excuse but I still don't want to do it. So here's a teaser.
Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow.

Politics and Digital Media

2008-06-17T16:57:00.007-06:00

Now today's mash-up is actually very real and no stretch of my imagination.

I was going to wait till tomorrow to write a post celebrating the end of my summer semester but my Corporate Issues in Multimedia professor struck a chord today that demanded my attention.
To give you some background Bob, my professor, is the hippie kinda guy. He's a cinematographer, artist, free thinker. You know the type. Even though his hair is gray and wiry he still sports a pony tail. He's a liberal. He protested Vietnam vehemently. I can even picture him sitting on the lawn of some public building among throngs of flower children rolling a joint. Hundreds of people singing and shouting at a lifeless government building to end a war that made no sense. Well that brings us to class today.
Following the completion of our final presentations Bob stood and gave his end of semester "good job" speech. Shortly after giving us the pat-on-the-back the subject quickly veered from corporate legalities to the political climate. He mentioned that he and several other faculty had been discussing why they don't see any of us [current students] out on the quad protesting. A war is going on that has extended itself beyond its original intentions and none of us are standing outside screaming to stop it. He said that the reason for this was that we didn't have a certain thing in our pocket. A draft card.

-Just as an aside: Here I caught myself thinking, "okay, you're throwing political views into school, not cool." Then I went back to the image of Bob sitting on the lawn in headband and tie-dye and realized that they were students. Learning politics, business and philosophy from professors. Their teachers taught them that what the government was doing was wrong. So his standing up in class to give us this rant about our political climate was warranted. If he didn't, then who would?-

After pulling the draft into the scene he continued to explain what was at stake. A draft is not as far away as some would like to believe. (researched it, it's true) Especially if this dang war keeps going. With the continued decline of the economy and the government fail safe that: 'war will cure all,' we are heading down a very scary next few years. Elections are already shaping up to be a foul and ugly trip. Case in point ----->
I won't go into my personal issues of human rights and my libertarian views in relation to government control (I don't want to swat away the republican rocks that would be coming from the families' direction) but lets just say I am against some of the restrictions the government is placing on the rights of all people. The government is having its run and it's taking its toll on all of us.

Okay, bringing it home. His point to all this was the power that we have. I alone have the ability to reach a large audience. I have the ability to produce media and present it to an audience. He set a standard for us to use what we know to ensure that we don't lose what we have been given. He was emotional when he told us this. He was genuinely concerned for where our future was going to lead. It takes a lot to express yourself in front of 25 students.

Now I'm not about to start picketing the capital or run away to Canada (yet) but I think that the flower children weren't wrong when they stood up and said something. So here's my nod to the original hell-raisers. Go flower power!

Countdown

2008-06-12T08:16:00.002-06:00

Only four and a half days left of class.
That's five classes.
Nine and a half hours of class.
Two finals.
Three projects.
Then two and a half months of freedom and poverty!

Chadder's Kung Fu Fries

2008-06-06T15:15:00.004-06:00

I know I post too much but I had to put in a quick note about the movie I saw this morning.

So my animation class met at the Cinemark Theater in American Fork for the first show of Kung Fu Panda. Not only was the price only $4.50 (for the first show of the day) but it was pretty fun going with a bunch of other grown men to see an animated movie at 10am in the morning. I felt so in my element.

The movie was great. By far Dreamworks best animated endeavor yet. The story was fun and great for the kids, and it definitely made me laugh. I would recommend it for the families. I was satisfied with my purchase. So go see it! I would just advise against going and eating at Chadder's afterwards though. Chadder's is a little burger place that is trying to be like In and Out but not doin to well. The fries have enough grease to stop your heart in 5 min. (but they're SOOO GOOD)I'm still feeling a little sick from them three hours later.

Angels+Sundials= Blog Renovation... please pardon our dust.

2008-06-04T04:03:00.004-06:00

And just like Hillary Clinton's politics I have once again changed the appearance of my blog. Unlike the Presidential hopeful (VERY hopeful) the changes that my blog has undergone are in an attempt to find a proper fit for me. I'm not trying to change it each week so I can connect with a different social class.
The new title for the blog is in reference to a style of music my good friend Dalin introduced me to. "Mash-ups" are when a DJ or mixer takes two songs from different artists and throws them on top each other. The result is a strange mix that can sometimes turn out pretty cool. I've added one to my audio player on the right if you're interested to hear what they sound like. Its not a great example but the best I could find at 4am.

Moving on...

I'm up writing this fantastic entry at 4:13am because I had a stroke of genius in relation to a school project I'm working on. The project I'm referring to is an animated short about a little angel that is running late on the day that he's supposed to get his wings. The kicker is that the writer/director of this endeavor envisions this angel having a sundial for a face. Yes, by sundial I am talking about the ancient form of telling time by having a disc with a pole or a wedge sticking up to tell time in reference to the shadow cast by the sun.
As a team of animators and artists, we've had a lot of trouble trying to mash-up a twelve year old angel with a sundial. The products have not been pretty. So I have a couple of hours left to try to make some sense of my inspiration before class. I had better get back on the drawing board... literally.

Pirates of the Utah Transit Authority

2008-05-27T08:07:00.008-06:00

This will be a fast read I promise, I had a good chuckle this morning riding the bus to school and thought I'd share.
All bus riders like to sit alone if at all possible, this a common rule among public transit. If you don't get to sit alone you sit next to the least frightening passenger you can find. The express bus I ride seats two by two down the length of the bus just like an airplane. Near the back there were more empty pairs of seats so I sat there. As the bus began to fill up I was nice and pulled my knees in and my bag under my feet so others could sit. No one did. So I enjoyed my good fortune and stretched out till the American Fork stop.
Once again I pulled my knees in and waited as I watched the bus fill up even more. No one sat next to me. I think I was the only one without a riding buddy! I was so lucky!
I couldn't figure out why I had such a blessing to stretch my legs out. Then it hit me. I looked around at the passengers surrounding me and saw dress clothes, American Eagle, A&F, Aerospostle (spelling?) and any number of well groomed BYU students. This was me this morning--->
6'2", shaved head, un-shaved, sporting my Pirates hoodie (skull and cross-bones on the front), headphones and sunglasses. I was a rebel. People were scared to sit next to me. I was the most frightening passenger on the bus! Funny part was, I was wearing a Pirates of the Caribbean hoodie and listening to Disney's Hercules on my ipod. I am a fearsome creature! HAHA

Indiana Idol

2008-05-22T08:25:00.004-06:00

This is another warning about the content of this blog. This blog contains spoilers about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Don't read till you've seen it!

Last night my roommate invited me so view the midnight screening of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." I went in with no expectations and I'm glad I did because I enjoyed it.
The more I think about it the happier I am with it.
The troublesome issue was that Aliens were brought into the Indiana Jones story. Why is this so hard for people to grasp? When he was fighting the Nazi's he was fighting the occult and the Nazi's. They were superstitious religious fanatics. It fit. In the "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" timeline picks up following WWII during the communist scare. Science has replaced the superstitious. The atomic bomb (which is tested in the film) was the new ultimate power, not supernatural. The space race was on everyone's mind and aliens where the new myth. This is a science fiction movie!! Its SCIENCE FICTION! I'm sorry Mr. Child, but the Ark of the Covenant, tearing Hearts out of bodies and the Holy Grail are no more realistic. It's not supposed to be realistic. The only issue I had (hypocritical as this will sound) with the aliens where that they were "inter dimensional" and that the aliens flew a spaceship. Give them the flying saucer, don't add in the technical terms when they don't apply.

Okay, enough said about Indiana Jones.

Moving on to the Idol tragedy...

Now I am in no way an Idol fan but my Web Essentials professor is. He keeps his classes up to date on the latest news on HM3 (High School Musical 3), Hanna Montana and the American Idol world. The password for our quiz this morning was 'archuleta' for crying out loud! If he weren't married and didn't have teenage daughters I'd worry about the guy. I think he enjoys it more than his girls do. Along with my teacher the world seems to be in an outcry that the utah boy didn't win. Boo Hoo. He lost a reality TV competition. I'm sure there are teenage girls who were crying themselves to sleep last night and I shouldn't be so insensitive but oh well. :)

WALL-E

2008-05-17T18:39:00.003-06:00

I know I'm obsessed with PIXAR and Disney and you're all sick of hearing me but these new promo videos for their new movie are great.

Wall-e discovers headphones:

Wall-e meets a vacuum:

Wall-e and the hula-hoop:

Wall-e picks up a magnet:

The movie will be released on June 27th.

Prince Sebaceous

2008-05-16T19:54:00.003-06:00

This is just a forewarning to anyone reading this. The following is a disgusting account of my adventures at the doctor today. Don't read if you don't like the gory details.

Over the past few months a small lump has been growing on my back. Now this lump turned out to be a cyst. Not just any cyst, a Sebaceous Cyst. (sounds scary huh?) Actually this type is very common. Its caused by a pore or hair follicle that becomes irritated or damaged and plugs up. The cells that build up behind the clogged pore are the cyst. Mine was large. Very large. About four inches in diameter.
I was scheduled to have it removed on Wednesday but the doctor was over booked so I was re-scheduled. The surgery happened today at 1pm. My back was pumped full of that stinging substance called Lidocane so that soon my entire back felt like a lump of fat that wasn't even mine. The doc turned on the radio and began to work. To the tunes of the 90's I was sliced and diced. He even showed me the cyst and it wasn't cute. It was a lump of white tissue that looked very similar to crumbled feta cheese. (sorry if I've put you off feta) Shortly after this he began discussing recovery.
Now having had two abscesses lanced before I thought I was in for a few days of gauze and taking it easy. I was wrong. Two weeks. Two weeks of having to go to the doctor every day to have the gauze removed from inside the wound and replaced. I also have stitches. Those are always fun.
Since I have two weeks of less than my usual mobility I'm having to take FMLA from work.
Having work off tonight I went and saw Prince Caspian with a friend. It was a visually beautiful movie and the graphics were amazing. The story, however, was drastically changed from the book. The Pevensies (the children from the stories) were mean and belittling to each other and others. Aslan was barely present. And Prince Caspian was too old. There were many other story points that worried me but I'll refrain since this post is too long. See it for yourself though. It was still fun to watch. I'm going to pop a percocet and try to get some homework done.

Travels

2008-05-10T15:25:00.006-06:00

May seems to be the month that we vacation this year. My sister, Amy, is traveling Europe with here husband. Her last e-mail that she was jumping off the alps, swimming in the Mediterranean and tasting some of the best food on the planet. My parents are in Israel visiting the Holy Land and tracing the steps of Christ. When I spoke with them on the phone (modern technology is a wonderful thing)they were in Jerusalem following the Savior's last days. My Brother Ryan is in California with his wife Penny and his girls, Mia and Reese, workin the Disneyland scene. Being the only member of the family who works for the airlines and not on vacation I felt a little left out. So I crashed Ryan and Penny's party.

I flew into LAX on Wednesday morning and booked it down to Anaheim to spend the day with Ryan and Penny and their kids. It was a great day! Mia and Reese were on day three of being in the parks so they hit a small melt-down. (Penny, this is honestly nothing new! Kids OD on Disney all the time and so no, you're kids were not being terrible. They were perfect.)
The highlight of my day was holding Mia on my shoulders to watch the Parade of Dreams. She was ecstatic when Ariel's Float came down the street. Ariel stopped right in front of us for the showstop (Showstop; def. Term used by castmembers ((Disney Park Employees)) to describe an instance when a parade stops forward movement in order to perform a dance or show before continuing on the parade route.) Mia was so happy waving to the Little Mermaid and using my head as a drum to keep the beat. And honestly, when you think about it my head does strongly resemble a bongo with the skin stretched across the top.
Reese was a lot of fun to go ride hoppin with. She worked out a system where each of us got to choose a ride to go on. Reese went first, then Dad (Ryan) and then me. So we hit the best rides in the park. Reese chose the 'Haunted Mansion '(my all time favorite Reese) Ryan chose 'Splash Mountain' and I took 'Pirates.' Later we rode the classic 'Tea-Cups' also made our way to the 'Tower of Terror.' The whole experience was a blast. It's more enjoyable to go to the park with children because you get to watch them experience things for the first time. I'll stop now because I'm sure Penny wants to do a full blog on her trip, so I won't detract. Thanks for letting me come and play Ryan and Penny!!

Now, my travels were to continue this weekend with three days in WDW. (Walt Disney World) Unfortunately that was canceled. I put in a request with the casting dept to work Saturday and Sunday but there is an over staffing issue and I was unable to acquire a shift. I couldn't rationalize flying down to Florida with no assurance that I was going to work and re-new my employee ID. So I'll be trying again at the end of June when my Summer block of classes is over. Keep your fingers crossed. I've enjoyed my Castmember status so much, I'd hate to lose it now.

Since I've taken work off from the airport to go to Florida I'm now hiding out at my parents house for the weekend doing homework, and of course updating the blog. I can't pass up the chance for free food and a jacuzzi tub. (If the parents ask I was bringing in the mail and getting rid of all the perishable food in the fridge.) So nuff said. I believe I've hit my record for longest blog entry yet! Till next time.

gone with the wind...

2008-04-19T16:19:00.004-06:00

The weather prophets are predicting a storm late tonight or tomorrow night. Not just any storm, but a snow storm. The weather today is a wonderful 74 degrees. Tomorrow is expected to be 49 degrees and snowing. Honestly, I feel that Utah weather is harder to predict than the female thought process. (Don't be offended women, you know that you are as confusing to men as we are to you) The hardest part about this moody weather is that I work in it. Being on the ramp at the SLC Airport means my night can be made or broken by a temper tantrum from an unhappy cloud. So keep your fingers crossed that the snow doesn't hit until late late tonight.

As per my last entry, the semester is over. I have 12 days until the summer semester begins and I'm actually hoping I can get some reading done. My mom was kind enough to loan me a new book, Three Cups of Tea, that was recommended to me by a co-worker. I'm always stoked to have a new book, so if you have any good recommendations send em my way! I would like to get through a couple of books this next week and a half.

Running. Well Penny, I'm a little behind on my workouts. I think my running distance is about two miles max. I need to find some new motivation to get me out there and run. Oh, for those of you who don't know, my sister-in-law Penny has invited me to run a half marathon with her at the end of the summer and at the rate I'm going its going to be a slow race.

time of death, 8:19pm April 17th 2008

2008-04-17T20:20:00.002-06:00

Okay, so my title is a little mis-leading but that how I felt a minute ago. I just presented my senior project for my final grade. My hands are still shaking, honestly, you'd think that after all my experience of making a fool of myself on a day to day basis I would be more prepared.

Our presentation was laid out as such:

1. Describe the needs of your client
2. Introduce the team and your roles on the project.
3. Show the product demo
4. Client user feedback
5. lessons learned

Now being the project manager I had to introduce and all that jazz. I fumbled my words so badly I felt like Dustin Hoffman's version of the Rainman. I need to take lessons from my dad, he's a master at public speaking.

All things aside, my project is done. I'll be speaking with my professor soon to find out how I did. As soon as I can figure it out I'm going to upload the video to YouTube so you can view the final project. I'll also upload the final files to this blog so you can see the graphic work I did.

Nuff said, my hands are slowing down and I'm no longer burning as many calories. Thanks for everyone who listened to me whine about this project.

Monday, keeping busy

2008-04-07T16:48:00.005-06:00

The beginning of the week often marks facing the huge amount of tasks that need to be completed. Homework must be done, groceries must be bought, bills have to be paid and laundry has to be done.

My bills were taken care of easily enough thanks to electronic bill pay (One of the many comforts of modern technology that will eventually make me fat and lazy) and so I will continue to have a working cell phone and a credit card with an available limit, small as it is.

Homework has become a never ending story in my senior year so I won't whine too much about it now. I will however post the graphics for the DVD envelope I've been designing this semester.

My animation classes are going to be my activity for the rest of the evening.

Groceries are next on the list after I complete this blog and fold my laundry. By the way I have to add that I have a friend here helping me to fold my laundry today. Most of the time he hides under my bed and sleeps, but the idea of a warm pile of clothes seems to be more appealing this afternoon.

Its all about the little things...

2008-03-25T13:29:00.004-06:00

So I've found that the very apparent lack of blog entries is that nothing is going on in my life. At least nothing worth mentioning. I wake up, go to the gym, work on homework that is never completed, eat food that is usually never healthy and then watch a movie and go to bed. And then just to break up the monotony I work on the weekends. I am boring!

But just to give you all something to look at I'm going to attach a couple of pictures of the playground equipment I've been creating for my animation project this semester. None of them have been colored or textured yet so they look pretty lame but it shows that despite UVSC's best efforts, I'm actually learning something.
Also, just another fun idea for everyone. Go watch Mary Poppins. I watched it with my roommate last night and I had forgotten how much I love that movie. It just makes you happy.

90,000 mi

2008-03-17T10:39:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted for a while so I thought that this was a great enough occasion to report. Yesterday while driving home from Kaysville my little Chevy Cavalier reached 90,000 mi. This means that I've driven over 56,000 miles in this car myself. Now the bad part about this is that the value of my car has now dropped into a new bracket so re-sale will not be fun. But hey, at least the car is still running.

Los Angeles

2008-01-30T20:59:00.001-07:00

So last weekend I finally saw the fantastical show of Wicked in Los Angeles, CA. Wow! I mean WOW! It was so amazing. The woman who played our Glinda was beyond mellow-dramatic and I laughed the whole time. She was good. Not to mention she could do a back-bend without a second thought.

"Just follow that as far as it goes.... Oh I hope they don't get lost, I'm so bad at giving directions." Glinda

And if Glinda didn't amaze me Elphaba was beyond human capabilities. Her Defying Gravity performance was just... well it was... just... wow. I was shuddering with goosebumps when the first act ended.

Anyway, gotta keep this short. On to Disneyland!

I'll just post pictures... its easier.

"Welcome foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion..."

Grizzy River Run

The End

the "blue screen of death" is replaced...

2008-01-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

I had my first crash with Windows Vista this last weekend. Now I can't be sure of course if it was virus but the behavior was reminiscent of one. It my system32 files became corrupted, then my drivers were disabled and eventually I was no longer able to access windows. All I had access to was the Vista startup graphic.. over and over again. I was luckily able to gain access to my files and back them up. (very lucky, considering my senior project was solely on my laptop and I would have lost everything) Then after re-installing windows THREE TIMES I finally have my laptop back.

The hardest thing about re-installing is that you forget how much you acquire over time on a computer. I spent most of Monday trying to get my lappy running at full steam.(Lappy means my laptop... if you want the cultural reference check out www.homestarrunner.com It's a great way to get distracted from work. The Strong Bad e-mails are the best.) But I have to re-install my Adobe Design Suite (Well over seven programs), Microsoft Office, and all of my data files that I've backed up. Not to mention every Windows update since Vista was written and all of the plug ins for Firefox. Ugh, its a long process. I'm just glad I was able to save my files before I reformatted. (Hint: back up your files people. An external hard drive is cheap and saves you a lot of pain and loss when the family photos are whipped out by a worm or virus)So thats my holiday weekend. I hope others had more fun than I did.

Christmas

2007-12-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve was great this year. I slept in and then went to a matinée of National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It wasn't too bad for a Disney sequel. There was action and humor and all sorts of good times. After that the siblings all came over to the parents house for dinner and massive amounts of desserts. I went to bed feeling pretty fattened up.

So you know you're getting old when your parents have to wake you up on Christmas morning. It was actually pretty funny to have my parents come knock on my door and tell me that they didn't want to wait all morning. This year it was just myself and the parents in the morning. The siblings that live in Utah didn't show up until after noon to open up grandkids presents. The grandkids are all old enough now that they realize Christmas morning is all about the presents. It was more entertaining watching them then it was to get my out little stack of booty....though I don't mind the stack of booty. Anyway, Christmas was kicked back and pretty uneventful this year and I loved it. Hope you all had the same.

the Greatest Game Ever Played

2007-12-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

So its nearly 4am as I'm sitting down with my laptop to write this one. The pain from the surgery has gone into overdrive and I can't sleep. I couldn't take another dose of the pain killers for two hours without O.D.ing. That being the case, I browsed through the DVD collection for a 'feel good' kinda movie to fill the time. It came down to a choice between Evelyn or the Greatest Game Ever Played. I decided on Shia LaBeouf.

Oddest thing about my loving this movie is that I can't stand golf. Yet, every time I watch the movie I feel better about life in general. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend you rent it. The editing alone is worth the two bucks. I'm sure Disney did its fare share of dramatization, but the movie is still accurate from what I've been able to find out. The story is based around amature golfer Francis Ouimet (played by Shia LaBeouf)who played against Harry Vardon (Stephen Dillane) in the 1913 US Open. Its a fantastic underdog tale that just leaves you feeling good about the potential life has. Well movie's over and I'm gonna try to get to sleep again. Make sure you look it up, its a great movie.

Day 4

2007-12-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

When I went in to the surgical center to have my tonsils removed they told me that days 4-7 after the surgery are the worst ones. What kind of news is that? I'm supposed to be feeling better by that point, not worse!

So yeah, I'm on day 4 of recovery now. The pain of course is there but the percocet is taking care of that. I have realized that I'm not eating enough which is leading to some massive headaches! I really just want to drill a hole in my head to let the pressure out.

So my mom, who has been my amazing nurse maid since the surgery, has been getting me Jamba Juice to eat! Holy crap that stuff is good! The Bright Eyed Blueberry is the best one in case any of you plan on making a stop at Jamba anytime soon. So right now I'm sitting back sippin my juice, high as a kite (legal drugs are sooooo great) and waiting for the end of the week when I can feel normal again!

Tonsils

2007-12-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

At 9:15am today I checked in to the McKay Dee surgical center in Ogden, Utah. They gave me the spill about what exactly they were going to do and how to deal with it during recovery etc etc. My Doctor, Mike Schuller ENT, was great and very kicked back about the whole thing. It was kinda cool to see a guy that went to high school with my sister as a surgeon. The anesthesiologist was a little over the top. He told my dad that someone had to sleep in my room with me tonight to make sure I didn't stop breathing. (little paranoid)
About 10:00am I was in my fantastically sexy hospital gown lying on a surgical table. The doctor has some issues finding my veins, I don't have any worth looking at, so starting the IV was interesting. After some small talk with my doctor the anesthesiologist started pumping me with the drugs. It was like someone injected hot sauce into my forearm. It was such and odd sensation. Then I was out. I woke up feeling like I had one too many magic brownies. After a few hours in recovery (I'm sure my dad was trying not hard to laugh at my random babbling) I was sitting up and ready to get out.
Now I'm sitting at home watching Smallville episodes and getting high on Percocet. Wahoo! Bring on the Ice Cream!

Coming Soon

2007-12-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just have to say, I saw this new movie trailer and I'm so excited to see it.

So I decided to post a list of all the movies I plan on seeing over the next few months in hopes that others might go to. Here it is:

So this one is a chick-flik to be sure, but hey, it looks fun and I love James Marsden as an actor.

3:56 AM Crash

2007-12-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow is my last day of classes for the semester. I've been working all night on my Senior project and my final project for my accessibility class. I finished editing the video for my accessibility class around 11:20pm. I ran out of caffeinated Sunkist soda so I made a run to the store and bought some fantastic Monster energy drinks. I started to slam that thing back like there's no tomorrow!
With my new burst of un-natural energy I chugged away at the power point for my senior projects presentation. Time wore on until my first can was gone.
I started to feel the effects... I was slowing down. My heart rate was decreasing. My focus began to waver and found myself drifting towards the couch. My high was deprecating!! After waking up and finding myself on the couch fifteen minutes after I had sat down its obviously time for can number two....

Wallace Fred Allen

2007-12-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

I know it seems a little odd to start off my blog with funeral but this is what happened today.
On November 27, 2007 my Grandfather passed away.

At 89 years of age he had been through some of the roughest medical trials I can imagine. Diabetes, strokes, cancer and more. His wife, Alice, had passed away earlier this year and I remember him saying at her death that he wouldn't be long behind her. Well he kept his promise. Today we laid his body to rest in next to his partner in my hometown of Kaysville.
The most depressing and saddening part of the day was realizing that a generation had passed away. Wally (my grandpa) was the last of my grandparents on earth. I've been remembering all day the sleepovers, camp outs and family parties where grandma and grandpa were present and active. Life has continued on and the grandkids are grown up with children of their own. Sleepovers are replaced by vacations that we rarely take and camp outs have become "day trips" into the wilderness. Its sad to see a generation go and realize that you're apart of the generation thats in charge today.

So with that I just want to say thanks to my Grandpa and say God speed.