Ryan the Man

It Has Been Forever

2010-11-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

Man it has been forever since I posted on here! I have been crazy busy since August when I started my MBA program, and I haven't really done much to warrant a blog post.

No, I take it back. I've been able to keep life somewhat interesting. The MBA is kicking my butt harder than I ever though it could get kicked. Its pretty humbling, but I can still kick most people's butts on a mountain bike! I went out to Vernal over Fall Break and checked out the desert riding there. It was pretty sweet! There is a loop just west of town about 12 miles long that was so fun I rode it twice! And my last ride of the season was at Mueller Park in Bountiful. It was a bust though, I got three flat tires on the way down and had to walk off the mountain in the dark (sun went down) for two and a half hours. Not fun, but definitely memorable.

Sienna and Tamara are doing great! I love my girls! They keep me going and motivate me so much. I'd be a complete and total mess without them. Sienna is so much fun to talk to and play with, even with her limited vocabulary. But hey, she's at the point where I can tell her to say something and she'll repeat it, so I guess she has an unlimited vocabulary, actually. And Tamara is infinitely supportive even though I neglect her sometimes when I am so caught up in homework and the only time we spend together is sleeping. She makes me dinner, does my laundry, packs my lunch (sometimes) and does so many other things I don't even notice or appreciate (until now). Thanks Honey! You are #1! I love you!

Narrows Pictures

2010-07-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, so if you haven't seen my pictures on Facebook already, here are some of the better pictures I took on my recent camping trip to Southern Utah and the Zion Narrows.

We camped somewhere on top of Smith Mesa near Zion National Park. My friend Adam showed it to us. This is the kind of place you'd have to be a local to know about. I'm lucky to have him as a friend down there.

We ate kabobs that I grilled over the campfire on top of this rock, and sat here chatting until around 11:00 PM. I love camping, especially in remote areas where you can see the stars clearly. There wasn't so much as a headlight to spoil our view of the night, and the Watchman, the Gateway To Zion, had a spectacular silhouette against the night sky.

Chamberlain's Ranch. Pretty much everyone hiking the Narrows top-down starts here. Its about 1.5 hours away from Zion Canyon by car along a long, bumpy dirt road that seems to go on forever. Adam dropped us off. What a stud! The river in the picture is the North Fork of the Virgin River, which will eventually dig out the Narrows of Zion Canyon, as well as Zion Canyon itself. Such a little stream now, it gets much, much more powerful by journey's end. Believe it or not, this is HIGH water, almost as high as the National Park Service will allow for permits to be issued to hikers wanting to make the trip.

About five miles into the hike, the stream is only slightly deeper, but we can't walk along the bank anymore because there are rock walls on either side, or very rough terrain. The cliffs aren't particularly high yet, just straight up out of the water. We could still make pretty good time though, which was good because its a 16.5 mile trip! Getting stuck in the Narrows after dark was not an experience we were interested in having, so we had to move pretty fast. As small tributaries come in, the river has been gaining strength bit by bit until there is a pretty good amount of flow. This waterfall was at mile 6. There is a way around, but Gary jumped off and into the pool below. Gorgeous! The canyon walls are getting higher and higher, but they haven't really closed in on us yet for a long period of time. Without advanced equipment, there is no way out except back the way we came or continuing into Zion Canyon. This is a wide section of the canyon, but its about to get really narrow. Also, we had to cross the river on foot at least 30 times. While it was only about calf-deep at first, it is now at least as high as our waist in the middle of the river, and sometimes higher than that, even in fast-moving water. We really slowed down at this point because fatigue was setting in and every single step was precarious. We took a welcome break at this spring. It was truly spectacular, with the water flowing directly out of the rock. The ferns added some color, and the grotto made for a perfect swimming spot. Entering the famous Wall Street. This is the part that everyone wants to see. We took about three hours to get through this section because the water was so high and we spent a good amount of time swimming because it got deep, and there is no ground to walk on for most of it. The floor of the canyon is water, with straight cliffs coming out of both sides. The rangers warned us when issuing our permit to check the sky and the time before entering this section, because once inside we would be "committed." If there was a flash flood or it got dark, there is no high ground and no suitable place to spend a night, and navigating the Narrows in the dark would be almost suicidal. We were tired (we'd been hiking in the most relentless, unforgiving terrain for almost 8 hours at this point), but we were determined to make it! See what I mean? No high ground. Nowhere to run from a flash flood, no where to sit and wait out the night. And its getting dark in the Narrows at 5:00 PM! One of several swimming sections. I managed to find some high ground, but it was really treacherous and I would have preferred the swimming once I got up there. Navigating the boulders in spots like this was really fun, but kind of scary at the same time.

Ready, set, jump! I walked across this rock as far as I could before I had to jump into this channel and swim for it. After taking this picture, I just didn't have the energy to dig out my camera anymore (I kept it sealed in a dry-bag). We were so tired and sore! My problem on this hike actually was not energy. I had plenty of energy to spare by day's end. My body was just beat up, though! My ankles had been absolutely punished by picking my way constantly through the river, stepping on huge, slippery rocks that relentlessly twisted and strained the tendons in my ankle until they were enflamed and swollen. Better shoes would have helped with this. Also, wearing low socks was a mistake. They allowed pebbles to get into my shoes much easier. It wasn't practical to stop every five minutes and take off my shoes and socks to empty out pebbles, so I just had to deal with it, which of course, resulted in blisters. Constant strain on my knees also generated a lot of pain there, and my swimsuit caused some painful chafing on the inside of my upper thighs. I guess my swimsuit isn't meant for hiking in... But despite my lack of proper preparation for this adventure, this was one of the most rewarding, thrilling, and fun hikes of my life. I will always remember the experience, and honestly I look forward to going back, a little better prepared.

Latest Action: Inception & Zion Narrows

2010-07-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to touch on the Zion trip for now. My friend Gary and I went to Zion last week and camped in the most beautiful spot I have ever camped in (and it was free, as opposed to the $20+ or -/night fee to camp in the park's lousy campground). We hiked the Narrows top-down and it was the most difficult physical experience of my life, as well as the most fun and exciting. I'll be giving a more detailed write-up with pictures later on though. More recently though, Tamara and I went and saw the movie Inception last night. The director and writers created my favorite movie ever, The Dark Knight, so I was really pumped up and excited to see this movie. Inception grabs you from the very beginning, and as soon as the first scene opens with Leonardo DiCaprio lying passed out on a beach in the surf, you are confused. The dialogue is intense and loaded, and you have to hang on every word. Even then, a lot of it goes right over your head until you see what they are talking about play out in front of you and then it comes together. DiCaprio plays a family man torn away from his family by circumstances beyond his control. The movie is about the task he must perform in order to be re-united with his family, which all takes place inside layer after layer after layer of dreams. The dream worlds created by Christopher Nolan (director) are simply incredible. There is a lot of buildup and explanation that happens before the characters enter the dream world, which had things fairly slow for a while, but very, very interesting. Then, inside the dream world, the intense action sequences are influenced by the events taking place outside the dream world, which makes for some incredible scenes like you have seriously never seen before. It is extremely heady stuff, very deep, very intense, and it moves very, very fast once they enter the dream world so you have to commit yourself to keeping up or you will get lost. The cast was fantastic. I never really liked Leonardo DiCaprio but he won me over in this movie. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is always fun to watch, but he plays a different character here than any other. His role in The Lookout may have had some similarities, and his work there is probably what got Christopher Nolan's attention. He is just brilliant in this though, although there was a bit of a lack of character development for all but DiCaprio's character. The movie really was about him and only him. Everyone else is just there for support. Ellen Page earned my respect as an actress, and Cillian Murphy was also fantastic in his role. Michael Caine only had about five minutes of screen time, but he is always a pleasure and he is always in Christopher Nolan films. Seriously though, they went all out with the cast. There were faces I recognized popping up everywhere, even for the most insignificant roles. Keep your eyes open. This was one of the most interesting, entertaining, brilliant movies I have ever seen. Go see it. Plan on seeing it two or three times, because you will need to in order to get it.

Biking Videos

2010-07-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

We've got some great videos of our biking trips on http://2morons.blogspot.com. Have a look for some fun videos, courtesy of my Dad's helmet camera.

Anybody There?

2010-05-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in forever. It seems like there is less of a point to it nowadays because my blog used to be intended for an out-of-state group (family and friends mainly in Utah). Now I see most of them regularly but not all, and I have some people in California that just might still be interested in what I am up to, but I'm not going to count on that.

As far as a quick update goes, I'll be starting my MBA program up at University of Utah in August. Meanwhile we are living at Tamara's parents' house trying to save as much money as we can while I work as a server at a not-to-be-named restaurant (due to certain internet monitoring software) that has a "lobster" as its "red" logo. Sienna's first birthday was last week and we had a big family party at the Scera Park. Unfortunately I don't have pictures on the computer I am using just now, but I'll try to put some up later.

I was in Moab yesterday to ride the Slickrock Trail but we didn't get as far as I wanted to. We had some technical problems with some of the bikes my group was riding and I had a major wreck. I could have kept going, but combined with the bad bikes, we turned back. I am extremely sore today, with whiplash in my neck and an absence of skin on my right knee, right hip, and both elbows and forearms. In 10 years of mountain biking, it was easily my most epic and damaging fall though. Slickrock is rough like sandpaper, and I slid/tumbled about 15 feet due to the high-speed nature of my wreck. I would have gone further if I hadn't lucked into a sandpit that absorbed my momentum. But the rock had sanded off skin from every contact point and yes, there was much blood. Ouch. I'll post pics of that later too. Meanwhile, if you still follow my blog let me know, and perhaps I will keep it alive. If nobody does anymore, it will probably fade into oblivion.

...Success!!!

2010-01-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Turns out... a 20-point gain on my GMAT score was, as a matter of fact, enough to persuade admissions staff to give me a chance. I have been accepted to the David Eccles School of Business' Master's of Business Administration program at University of Utah!! I start in August 2010. After months of struggling to lay out a plan for the future, we finally have something solid to work towards.

Looks like I will have to remove the BYU Football sticker from my car.

... Failure

2010-01-15T20:50:00.001-08:00

Yeah, so I don't know what happened yesterday on the GMAT, but it certainly did not go as planned. My first score was 560. My goal was to get 600 or better the second time around. I did everything I could think to possibly do in order to get it. After exceeding my goal in practice simulations I was pretty confident going in. I knew what was on the test and I had a good strategy. I had gone over and over and over again the questions I had missed on the practice tests, and I felt really good...

The first four or five math questions were brutal -- I don't think I got any of them right. I don't even know where they came from. The subject matter, as I remember it, was not covered by any of my study guides or touched on by my practice tests. If you know about the GMAT, then you know that the first ten questions are the most important -- if you miss even one of them you are stuck below a certain scoring threshold. I spent a lot of time on them (getting them wrong) and fell behind on time. So in order to make up that time I had to rush through several questions that I could have gotten right if I'd left time for myself.

My score on the math section was worse than the first time I took the test. Bad news, since that is the part that most college admissions scrutinize most. So much for getting college algebra waived... On the other hand, I almost aced the written section of the test. I dramatically improved on my first score, enough to bring my total GMAT score up to 580, a 20-point overall improvement. Strange it worked out that way. I spent over 60 hours studying this math over the past few weeks (may not sound like that much, but I'm working full-time, Christmas is mixed in there, and I'm taking classes at UVU too) and I didn't even look at the written material. Where is the logic in my math scores dropping and my written scores improving? Doesn't make any sense.

So that was a blow. I don't think a 20-point improvement due to better performance in the written section will get me a better chance than my first score would have gotten me. Still, I sent U of U the results and I am in contact with the director of admissions. Hopefully I can talk him into taking a chance on me. If they don't... Looks like we'll be living with Tamara's parents for a long time. I'm trying hard to figure out what the Lord wants us to do. Going back for an MBA makes a lot of sense, and I am trying SO hard to make it happen, but when I have done everything I can possibly conceive to do, including praying my hardest and trying my best to live right, and I end up failing like this... It is tough. All I can do though is keeping trying to live like I am supposed to do and trust the Lord. Eventually maybe He will send me a signal that I can read.

GMAT is Tomorrow

2010-01-13T07:10:00.001-08:00

So the GMAT is tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. I have worked and prayed my butt off to get a good score, and I have tried reeeeally reeeeally hard to be good so God won't say "you don't deserve my help". What else can I do, right? I am doing some light review today but not delving too deep into the books. My mind needs to relax so I don't overdo it tomorrow. Tamara and I are going to the Temple tonight, and I can't think of anything that would clear my mind better than that.

I went to an information session at the University of Utah last night and it was very enlightening. It is a good program with a lot to offer its students and alumni, far more than the program at UVU (which my Dad is, understandably, trying so hard to talk me into taking -- both he and my Mom work there). I got to chat for a few minutes with the director of admissions which definitely ought to give me an advantage of some kind. He remembered my application (out of hundreds) and asked me to call him after I take the GMAT and tell him what my score was. That would suggest to me that my application really stood out except for that stupid GMAT score I got the first time. So it looks like all the pieces are falling into place. Everything hinges on how well I do tomorrow, and I don't know what more I could do to prepare for tomorrow than I have already done. One more thing, if I get 50th percentile in the math portion of the test, I won't have to retake College Algebra (my current transcript grade is too low). I'll still have to re-take Business Statistics, and that is going to suck, but at least I won't have to take that College Algebra class... I feel encouraged and optimistic right now that everything is going to work out. Things have not been going much my way for the past year. Finally something promising seems to be going my way and I'm fired up to make it happen! Wish me luck!! Or a prayer might work better...

Avatar

2010-01-09T22:50:00.000-08:00

Movies will never be the same.

I don't post very often, let alone in the same day, but I did not plan on going to the movies earlier today. We decided to take a break from studying and go on a date tonight. Since we saw Tamara's movie last time (Sherlock Holmes), I got to pick this time. I had heard good things about Avatar, but nothing could prepare me for what I was about to witness.

Avatar was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The movie is a thrill ride from beginning to end. From the minute it started, I was hooked. The whole movie is three hours long, and for a movie to be so bold as to suggest it deserves three hours of my time is quite presumptuous if you ask me. Not only did Avatar deserve three hours of my day, but it changed my freaking life. Every movie made from this day on will have a standard set by Avatar. I will ask myself the question "How good was this movie, on a scale of 1 to Avatar?" after seeing movies from now on.

Actually, the first 20 minutes or so I wasn't sure what to think of it. It seemed a little overblown and over-scripted. When the plot began to develop, though, and the world of Pandora opened up on the 3D-Movie screen, I just wished I was there. By the way, don't bother seeing the movie if you don't see it in 3D at least. If you can see it in IMAX I personally guarantee you the ride of your life. Seeing it on a regular screen just won't do it justice.

The plot is not the most original -- no spoilers here, don't worry. A marine is deployed via Avatar (his mind is placed in a body not his own) to infiltrate an alien race in order to persuade them by peaceful means to move off their homeland, which is full of a valuable mineral the humans want to mine. Of course, the marine decides he likes being an alien and the aliens don't want to move. Violence ensues, and it climaxes with -- hands down -- the most incredible battle scene I have ever watched (LOTR included, sorry). The ending is good, leaves plenty for your imagination and closes all loopholes I needed to have filled.

But even without the most original plot, it certainly kept my (rapt) attention. Got my adrenaline going a few times too. To end, I will say that I am usually satisfied seeing a movie once in the theater. I likely will never have a strong desire to see that particular movie again. LOTR and the Dark Knight are the only two that come to mind that I actually wanted to see a second time in theaters after seeing them once already. Walking out of the theater, I was already plotting out my budget (time and $$) for the trip up to Salt Lake to see it at the IMAX. I will be talking about Avatar for a long time, I think.

In Case You Didn't Know

2010-01-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty reclusive recently and I just thought some (few, I'm pretty short on "buddies" right now anyway) people might wonder why I am so anti-social lately. Well, I have a good excuse. I submitted my application to the MBA program at University of Utah back in November, kicked back my heels and waited for their decision. Honestly I didn't think I had very good odds of getting in. People are applying like crazy to MBA schools right now, and the schools are able to pick and choose the cream-of-the-crop. With my average GPA and slightly-better-than-average GMAT score, I didn't expect much. To my surprise, however, about three days before Christmas, I got a letter from the school saying my application shows "promise", and they would consider admitting me with my current application, or I could "greatly enhance (my) chances of being accepted by re-taking the GMAT". I assume they want me to get a better score so I can bring the school's average UP rather than DOWN. The deadline, however, is January 15, which gave me slightly more than three weeks to brush up and get ready. Ever since, I have put in several hours of study per day and done little else. I've passed up opportunities to go skiing for free, I haven't hung out with anyone except my wife (we went to Sherlock Holmes last week, good show!), and I've been stuck mostly in my bedroom studying except for the occasional football or basketball game. Its taken some self-discipline to keep this up with so much intensity for a few weeks now (I really wanted to go skiing!) but it is seriously paying off. My original GMAT score was 560, a little bit better than the average score. My practice tests, which are a pretty reliable indication of how well you will do on the actual test, have gone steadily up. My most recent (yesterday) was 610. I feel pretty confident that if I can perform like that on the actual test, I will get into the MBA program at U of U for Fall 2010. Just got a few days left! I take the test on Thursday at 8:00 AM. I hope my nerves don't get me...

2009 Music Wrap

2009-12-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

Every year everyone in my family puts together a little playlist of 10-12 songs that were somehow meaningful over the past year. Someday it will be kind of fun to look back and see what kind of music we were listening to over the years. I like my list this year the best so far, I think. Here are my songs with links to the music.

1. Welcome All Again -- Collective Soul

2. Comfortably Numb -- Pink Floyd

3. The Chain -- Fleetwood Mac

4. One Day Remains -- Alter Bridge

5. Ghost -- Live

6. Places For B reathing -- Revis

7. Let The Good Times Roll -- The Cars

8. Plush (Acoustic) -- Stone Temple Pilots

9. Dreams -- Fleetwood Mac

10. Heart to Heart -- Collective Soul

11. Cedars of Lebanon -- U2

Quick explanation: Collective Soul put out a new CD this summer and as usual it is awesome. Welcome All Again is the title track and it is packed with the energy that they have been missing for a few years. Comfortably Numb is my favorite Pink Floyd song, and I got into their music while living in California. Great tonal quality and the guitar outro at the end is immortal. Recently I started to really appreciate Fleetwood Mac. A lot of their songs have a melancholy tone and extremely rich lyrics that have resonated with me lately. I've got The Chain and Dreams on there. One Day Remains is a great song from the little-known band Alter Bridge. I love the energy and the optimistic message. I'm not much of a Live fan, but Ghost brings back a lot of memories of California, especially the fog and rainy winters. Let The Good Times Roll played on the radio about 4 separate times on our way back from a Moab biking trip this fall, and ever since I have loved the song. My sister gave me a Stone Temple Pilots cd for my birthday, and I really liked the hard core songs but the acoustic version of Plush really stuck with me. Heart to Heart has grown on me. It is such a simple but absolutely beautiful song, and it illustrates why Ed Roland is one of music's greatest and under-appreciated vocalists. Cedars of Lebanon is, in my opinion, the only great musical achievement by U2 on their new No Line on the Horizon album, which has been critically acclaimed as an unfortunate follow-up to their smash How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb from 2007. I love U2, though, and this song has a very unique sound, although a bit melancholy as well.

I like it. I'd listen to it. I do listen to it :). Enjoy.

End of the Year

2009-12-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

As 2009 closes out, I have to say I will not miss it. Plenty of good times mingled with bad ones, but I am glad to see it go. The future worries me sometimes -- my employment is insecure, prospects not good, my home in pending foreclosure, and government doing everything it can to make sure the general situation doesn't get better -- but I have my wonderful family and the gospel. So I can't consider myself anything but truly blessed despite the hardship that has been heaped on me for the past 12 months. Life has been hard for a while now, but they say times like these are like the refiner's fire. Goldsmiths used to purify gold ore by melting it in a big pot over a fire. The impurities would float to the top, and the goldsmith would scrape all the muck and goo off the top and throw it away. This "refining" process would continue, sometimes for days, until the goldsmith could, as they say, see himself in the gold (his reflection). The reason our trials are so often compared to a Refiner's Fire is that while we are dealing with our little problems, our Father in Heaven is removing the gunk and filth out of our lives and the process continues until He can see a reflection of Himself in us. The most important thing to remember while in the Refiner's Fire is that the Refiner can't work with resistant gold. If we get caught up in feeling sorry for ourselves, or blaming others for the situation we are in, that filth and those impurities can't be worked out of us, and we will miss the opportunity to have God shape us into the valuable form He would have us be. This is my Refiner's Fire. I have realized over the past month or so that I have never dealt with trials as difficult as the ones I am facing now, and as a result, I am asking God for a lot of things (help me find a job, help me get into school, help us sell our property, help help help ...). As I thought about how much I am asking God for, I got to thinking about how much I deserved it based on my faithfulness. Since returning to Utah, unfortunately, the answer I had to give myself was "not much". Living in Utah, it is so much more challenging to be faithful spiritually, which is unfortunate. So, in order to be worthy of the blessings I seek, and to be sure I don't miss out on my Refiner's Fire, I have made a commitment to the Lord as the year ends to live worthily of the blessings I am seeking, or else I can not ask. If I am not attending church every week (and staying all three hours) that I am able, not reading the scriptures daily, not keeping the Sabbath, using inappropriate language, listening to inappropriate music or watching inappropriate movies, etc... , how can I go to the Lord and ask Him for blessings? He will hear my prayers, as He hears every prayer, but He will not put forth effort to bless me if I have put forth no effort to honor Him.

I love Christmas and the time set apart to honor Christ. If you are dealing with trials or challenges now or in the future, don't waste your Refiner's Fire. Always live like you know you should, and the Lord will bless you. Maybe not with money or the solutions to all your problems, but He will turn you into the purified gold that He allows into His Kingdom.

Application Complete!

2009-10-21T22:35:00.001-07:00

I just submitted my graduate school application to University of Utah! Pray for me! And I mean pray for me to get in, not that I won't be converted from Blue to Red. I may have to pretend to be a Ute fan for a while if I get in...

Gooseberry Mesa

2009-10-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

This has got to be one of the coolest bike trails in the world. Gooseberry Mesa is just above Hurricane, Utah, and you can see it easily from I-15 on the left as you are headed down into St. George from Cedar City. My Dad and I rode the trails up there this past Saturday and it was just awesome.

After surviving the cockroaches at the Econo Lodge in St George we headed up to Hurricane along highway 59, which eventually dead-ends on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We only got about 15 miles though, past the eastern end of the mesa, before turning left onto a dirt road running off as far as the eye can see. We followed that road for a while, then turned onto another road that ran out onto the top of the mesa. It was rocky and rough, but the Man Van (my Dad's old '96 Dodge Caravan w/ no A/C and plenty of room in the back for mountain bikes) has been through worse. After a long and bumpy ride, it was nice to arrive at the gravel parking lot for the Gooseberry Mesa Trail!

The parking lot definitely isn't in the coolest spot on the Mesa. Its surrounded by sagebrush and cedar trees. But you can see the cliffs surrounding the entrance to Zion National Park in the background. When we got there it was before 9:00, so the Sun had only just hit the top of the Mesa. It was still chilly and breezy, and a bunch of campers were cooking breakfast nearby. Their campfires smelled really good (cedar) and made me want to go camping... After some quick lube jobs and double-checking air pressure, we hit the trail.

The surface of Gooseberry Mesa is made up mostly of a loose-but-firm gravelly rock, with huge

slabs of slickrock scattered everywhere. Some of these slabs rise gently out of the regular

surface, while others stick straight up out of the ground to form huge domes. The Trail connects these slabs of slickrock together, so you get to ride all over one big dome and all over the rock around it, and then head off to the next one. Sometimes these domes rise so close together that you are winding around on trail right in between the walls of rock.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of us riding right in between these walls of rock, but that was pretty fun. We cruised around from rock to rock for several miles. The slickrock is really great for bike riding because it allows you to do things that regular mountain soil won't let you do. It grips your tires better, so you can do stunts and ride obstacles that would be a lot more tricky or even impossible on dirt. Ledges are everywhere, and you can't always see them coming because the rock plays tricks on your depth perception, so you have to be constantly ready to bunny-hop or pull back as you go unexpectedly airborne. It is a full-body workout!

All that work is rewarded though by one of the best climactic scenery points ever!

No, Jason isn't back from his mission already. This picture was actually taken last Fall when Dad and Jason went without me... Bums. Pictures do not do it justice though. To the North you get a complete panorama of Zion Nation Park from the Kolob Canyons area all the way to the entrance to Zion Canyon, with all of the landmarks in between, like Watchman and Lava Point. To the South is another endless series of Mesas all lined up row by row. With nothing in the way, the Grand Canyon would be easily visible. So Dad and I took some time to take a few pictures and listen to a guy tell us the story about how he ripped his shorts right in the crotch area while he was riding ... we didn't ask to hear it ... and then we headed back to the Man Van.

I've been riding a full-suspension Specialized Stumpjumper since 2005 -- a very comfortable ride and I have enjoyed it. Dad had been riding a hard-tail (no rear suspension) Giant Iguana since 2003 until recently. This was his first time on full-suspension (in style! he now has a 2008 Gary Fisher Roscoe II! a $4500 bike that he didn't pay nearly that much for). The slickrock on Gooseberry Mesa is particularly rough, and after a few hours riding hard-tail, you feel pretty beat up. Well, after completing the trail yesterday on his Gary Fisher, here is how Dad felt.

Impressive. Great ride. And we made it back in time to see the end of the BYU game.

Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I found a Nobel Peace Prize in my Cheerios this morning.

My Favorite Band in Review

2009-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

If you have gotten to know me at all closely over the past 10 years or so, you would know that I have a favorite band. When I say "favorite" I don't mean it like a favorite food or color which for most people just depends on your mood. When I say "favorite" I mean this band has been untouchable by any other rock band, ever, since I first heard a few of their songs back in the '90s when they were first starting to get big. Not one other band has motivated me to buy every album available and anxiously await the next one, watch for its release date, and do whatever I have to to get it on the day it is released because I am so thirsty for more. This band is incredibly underrated, and it is called Collective Soul.

Back in the 1990s front man Ed Roland (center), a guitar genius, was writing and performing small gigs with his locally popular band in Atlanta, but he couldn't get anywhere with the industry despite numerous contacts in the music business. Since music was the thing he loved most and he couldn't see himself doing anything with his life besides creating music, and being a deeply religious person (his father was a minister), he wrote the words to a prayer and put them to music. That song became their breakout hit, Shine. It hit the airwaves in Georgia first and spread across the country within weeks to become the #1 song on the radio, followed by a chain of mega-hits including songs like December, The World I Know, Run, and Heavy (I never get tired of watching that last video!). Since then, they have released 11 albums, including an acoustic collection, a live recording, and a premature "Greatest Hits" cd when it looked like Collective Soul might be finished after record label problems and relationships between some of the band members reached a boiling point. In fact, they disappeared for almost 5 years before crashing back onto the scene with Better Now, which fans of the band recognized as their "We're Back and Ready to Rock" message. The video is one of their best in my opinion, and the song, although it sounds a little bit different from their older material (the new stuff is a lot more refined due to guitarist Joel Koesche, who replaced the edgy Ross Childress), the band has a more energetic sound and, in my opinion, a more powerful stage presence. I saw them once back in 2000 and they put on an incredible show, the music was great and plenty of energy. I saw them again in 2008 and I got blown away by the power and the energy -- Ed Roland is an incredible entertainer and one of rock music's greatest vocalists.

Last week they released their 11th album, called self-titled but nicknamed "Rabbit". Its a great collection of smooth tunes, very guitar oriented. Ed Roland, like I said, is a guitar genius. He doesn't play anything that complicated, but the way he mixes guitars, he usually has four guitar parts to a single song, and it is beautiful. Check out the title track, Welcome All Again. Just feel the energy in that music! Can't wait to see this live! The new album has a few strange songs on it, Ed Roland experiments with a few sounds that seem kind of goofy at first but have really grown on me. I love how all of their albums have their own distinct sound, and this one is awesome. I will say that this is probably not the best Collective Soul starter album if you are not an avid listener already. Try 7even Year Itch, their Greatest Hits album, or Afterwords or Dosage. Those will get you hooked. This is good stuff though.

Biking at Point Reyes and Harry Potter

2009-07-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

A one-time change in my work schedule gave me Thursday off work, so I decided to hit up Point Reyes for some mountain biking. If you don't already know, Point Reyes is a huge shoulder of land sticking out into the Pacific Ocean about an hour away from where I live. Since it sticks out past the San Andreas fault, the geology changes like crazy from the Redwood-friendly stuff on the side I live on. Point Reyes is hilly grassland with long, deep inlets of water from the ocean called Esteros. They are like miniature fjords in Norway. The only difference is the cliffs are a lot smaller and the water doesn't come inland as far, but it is still extremely pretty. The bridge in the picture crosses one of those esteros at a narrow point. My ride was about five miles each way and was mostly up-and-down, but not strenuous. It ended at this amazing point between two esteros atop a cliff called Drake's Point. I think it overlooks the beach that Sir Francis Drake stopped on to make ship repairs a few hundred years ago. The beach is on a spit that sticks out several miles into the ocean, very impressive. The lagoon inside the beach is apparently teeming with life during certain times of the year, particularly stingrays! That would be neat to see.

The sun was shining on the way it, but a few minutes after I started back a thick fog rolled in. When I got back to the bridge in the first picture, the estero was steaming.

It was a really fun, pretty ride. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

On to Harry Potter!

We went and saw the Half Blood Prince last night, and for the first time I was fully satisfied with a Harry Potter movie. The acting was better than all of the previous movies and the story was a lot more complete. The script was good. My impression of all the Harry Potter movies before was that they were scripted by a bunch of guys sitting around a table thinking "how do we condense this book into two hours?". Half Blood Prince actually seems like they were thinking "how do we make this a good movie", and they did it! I mean, its no Oscar winner, but you can tell a lot of thought and effort went into making it, while not much thought or effort seemed to go into the previous ones. The book was my favorite in the series, so I had high hopes for the movie. It was the most dramatic and intense of all the books to me, but it also had its lighter moments and those were translated well into the movie. The comedy was a little stiff at times, but several highlights, like when Harry drinks the lucky potion and Ron accidentally eats Harry's cookies laced with a love potion are absolutely hilarious. Jim Broadbent, the actor who plays Horace Slughorn, does a particularly good job playing his role. He seemed to make every scene he was in better. I loved his quirky eyebrows. Its too bad he wasn't in more of the Harry Potter movies, but we can look forward to him being in the last two movies (Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies). Finally, of course, was the ending. If you have read the book you know how crucial the ending is. I listened to it on my iPod while commuting and the last few chapters had me so glued I couldn't move! I was late for work that day because I couldn't stop listening. No disappointment in the translation to screen! I laughed and I cried. And it set up great for the final story. I hope they make it good. I was far from satisfied with the final book. I thought J.K. Rowling got lazy and screwed a few crucial things up, but I won't get into that now. If I get a bunch of people asking me why I didn't like the last book very much in my comments box I will maybe answer in another post. Otherwise we can talk about it sometime if you care. Great movie though!

Transformers are So Cool!

2009-07-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while. I haven't biked since Tahoe, and I'm DYING!!! We've had a lot of company coming and going, and life in general is kind of a mess for me and my family right now. There is so much going on right now I don't even want to get started talking about it because I'd be here all night. What keeps me going is my beautiful wife and perfect little baby. They keep things in perspective and help me focus on what is actually important in life. So what if we foreclose on our mortgage while Sienna is learning how to laugh at her mommy and daddy? Our mortgage is ok, in case you were wondering. Ask me again in a month or so.

Anyway, my two other escapes from reality are movies and biking. I haven't been riding much, but I have been doing a lot of research. I want to become a guru of mountain bikes. I told Tamara that a few days ago and she looked at me and said "Aren't you already?" I laughed. Sure, I know a whole lot more about biking than the average Joe, but there is so much about the technicalities of bikes that I don't know, like comparing frame designs, Avid Juicy brakes vs Hayes hydraulics, FSR assemblies vs other alternatives, double pivot suspension systems, Fox Float vs Triad, Talus, etc... SO many details I don't know. I've been doing a lot of research on this crap when I'm not busy studying GMAT stuff.

But TONIGHT, we went to a movie. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen!!! Another movie that got terrible reviews and I didn't expect too much from. I got more than I expected though! I had a thoroughly good time, gaping plot holes and all! I knew there would be huge plot holes, and there were. The first movie was definitely a lot more airtight. It made more sense and had better pacing. The biggest weakness of the first movie was a lack of focus on the

Transformers as the central characters of the story. The source material has back-stories for all of them! Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron, Starscream, all of them had their own character development and back-story. The first movie completely ignored that and focused on the humans. The second one does a much better job focusing on the Transformers. It goes deeper into the reason behind the war they are fighting and the rivalry between Optimus Prime and Megatron. You see more interaction between them and get more involved with their characters. Another problem with the first movie was not enough fighting between the Transformers. I mean there is a pretty good amount, but Optimus takes down one Decepticon, Megatron takes down one Autobot, and the rest of the fighting is between humans and robots. The new one is all about the robots, and it was awesome! One scene where Optimus Prime is trying to protect Sam from 3 or 4 Decepticons in a forest was particularly fun to watch. It was just hard core Transformers action. The plot was not nearly as poor as I had been told. I mean, yeah it was pretty light, but it was intact and easy to follow. You don't need a deep plot to make an entertaining movie about Transforming robots beating the crap out of each other. Shia Lebouf was brilliant as always. I always like to watch him. I suppose you could say I have a man crush on him. I wish I could be in a movie about my favorite toys from my childhood with Megan Fox... But I digress. I liked it. It was flawed, but come on. Did you expect any better from Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg in a movie about toys? If you did, shame on you and you deserve not to like it. Neener neener.

Wild Weekend at Tahoe!

2009-06-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went with my friend Dan from my ward up to Truckee/Lake Tahoe for some biking. We were planning on riding a couple of trails I have been interested in for a long time. One was the Emigrant Trail near Truckee, a 20-mile out-and-back trail that has a "fun" but not challenging reputation. It met expectations. I took a nasty fall while trying to ride my bike over a fallen log and my front wheel got torqued into a bad angle as I came down the opposite side. It was on a slope, and I fell to the downhill side onto the fallen tree which had a whole bunch of short, stumpy branches sticking out of it which stuck straight into me and bruised my chest and cut up my knee pretty bad. My bike landed right on top of me, as is usually the case in a bike wreck. I walked it off though.

Things didn't get really interested until we headed south to the hills above the southernmost end of Lake Tahoe. The plan was to ride the infamous Saxon Creek Trail, better known among bikers as "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride", not sure where the nickname came from. I had seen some videos and heard rumors that it was the sweetest downhill ride in the area, but you had to work for it. The top of the trail sits at 9200' elevation, and the trail to get up to it starts around 6500'. 3000' of climbing is tough, I don't care who you are. But we had several hours and we were going to take our time. We planned our route up Armstrong Pass trail, much of which is a paved road. When we hit singletrack at the end of the paved road we met up with a group of bikers who were coming down. I asked where they were riding from, and they said they had been heading for Mr. Toad's, but turned back because of the snow. I had been told it would be spotty, but not bad, but these folks had turned back because of fields of snow on the ground and more snow falling from the sky! It had been cloudy at the bottom, but far too warm for snow. We figured we could hack whatever they were talking about and we kept going. We started climbing this canyon, and the trail was immaculate!! We climbed smooth granite formations and wound through the ponderosa pine trees, even hit some of the man-made obstacles just for fun! After a while it began to rain, real lightly. Crossing our fingers, we kept going, hoping it would taper off. The higher we climbed, the colder it got. We had climbed about 2300' when we stopped to evaluate. The rain was getting heavier, and the temperature was noticeably colder. While we were stopped, we could feel the temperature dropping, and watched as the rain began to mix with big, wet snowflakes. That made the decision for us. All I had for warmth was a now-soaked cotton sweat shirt and my under-armor. We gave up on Mr. Toad's, and I made some solemn vows to return and win the battle.

However, the day was not lost. The Armstrong Pass Trail we rode up on had been a fun climb, but the downhill was not to be missed! It was incredibly fun until we got back to the paved road, where we found another singletrack trail called the Corral Trail, which would lead back to our car. It quit being fun at that point though. The Corral Trail was S-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G!!!! Words can not describe the intensity of this trail. It was fast, real fast. And it was extremly windy (not windy as in blowing wind, but twisty, back and forth constantly) so it kept us on our toes. Jumps appeared out of nowhere and I would suddenly find myself 3-4 feet off the ground. The turned were banked just perfectly so I could minimize the amount of braking I needed. And one long, final stretch was so perfectly straight and banked on the slight curves that I did not even need brakes -- I just flew like mad, faster than I have ever ridden on singletrack. There were some dips built into this section of trail that literally tossed my bike into the air and caught me in the next one, which would drop down and toss me back up again -- repeat. I have never ridden a trail like that, ever. I can't imagine Mr. Toad's could have been any more fun. I'll still get down there, but it's got some pretty stiff competition with the Corral Trail.

Pixar Does It Again!!! How Do They Do It?

2009-06-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights ago, Tamara and I took Sienna to her first movie! She did pretty good, and only made a couple of grunting noises during the silent scenes that are supposed to make you cry... I always hated people like myself for bringing their babies to the movies.

Anyway, we went Up in 3D! That was the first time we had ever been to a 3D movie. It actually didn't do anything for me, personally. I don't think I enjoyed the movie any more in 3D than I would have on a regular screen, and the regular screen was $2.50 less per ticket too. I had a hard time with the glasses at first. They gave me a headache. But I got used to them after a while. It was neat, but didn't really improve the movie experience.

The movie itself was typical Pixar brilliance. They've got a lot of movies out there now: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, and I'm sure I'm missing one or two... After seeing the previews for Up, and after not liking Wall-E that much, I wasn't planning on seeing it in the theaters. I just wasn't that interested. Then people started talking. Have you seen Up? Its so good! Best since Incredibles! Better than Monsters Inc. (my two favorites)! So I decided to surprise Tamara with tickets. We weren't disappointed! I think it was the funniest Pixar movie yet, and actually very touching all the way through. Maybe its just because I'm a brand new daddy, but I even got a little choked up at a couple of parts. Its not "cute" like Finding Nemo or Ratatouille, they actually make it a really good story with real-life comparisons. That can't be an easy thing to do in a movie about an old guy who ties thousands of helium balloons to his house in order to float it to South America! We loved it though. When it comes out on DVD we will buy it so that our babies can watch it. Great movie, best of the year so far. Go see it. On a regular screen. Skip the 3D, it ain't that cool.

Yosemite

2009-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Star Trek: Yes. Critics: No.

2009-05-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

Tamara's due date is Monday, so considering that we probably won't get to many movies for a while, we're trying to sqeeze in as many as we can. We went and saw Star Trek tonight. I was interested because it was directed by JJ Abrams, and I am a fan of all his work that I have seen before (Lost, Cloverfield, and Fringe). Without getting too involved in this, I will say that I think I would have liked the movie better if it weren't for all the hype. The tomatometer is at 96%, a feat few films have accomplished (The Dark Knight and Lord of the Rings movies were right there). So I went into it thinking this movie would have to be about as good as those. Nope. Not by a long shot. In fact, I thought Wolverine, which got a measly 37%, was a far better movie. I didn't like the actor who played Kirk, and several scenes were cheesy and confusing and just didn't make any sense. Don't get me wrong, the movie was good, beautifully directed, and fun to watch, but it was nowhere near as good as a 96% movie should be. Sometimes it felt like a high-school play version of the old Star Trek movies That said, its definitely worth seeing, but don't pay more than a buck for your ticket.

Mother's Day

2009-05-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wonder what to give your Mother on Mother's Day? I was wondering, until I came across this video. It pretty much sums up everything I feel about my wonderful Mother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whW-Cv57UIk

I feel so strongly about this video, I have watched it over and over. I hope it inspires you the way it inspired me.

Wolverine

2009-05-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

SICK!!!

Tamara and I went and saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine a little while ago. I was a little bit worried about it, because the reviews over at rottentomatoes were less than glowing at just 37%, and I usually agree with the general consensus, although not always. This was one of those exceptions. I just do not understand the bad reviews of Wolverine's bada#$ back-story, because this movie was definitely the sickest thing I have seen since Dark Knight came out. I'd say this was not quite as good as the first two X-Men movies, but sooooo much better than the crap that was X-Men 3. If the critics were comparing this movie to those movies, then maybe that is why they gave it a bad rating because it wasn't quite as good, but holy cow it was fun to watch! The plot and storyline were pretty familiar, no surprises, and it was very enjoyable. When you watch it, you have to keep in mind that the first series of X-Men movies was made without this movie even being considered, so there are a few bad connections between Origins and the first X-Men movie. Its not exactly seamless, and I am ok with that. The fighting scenes between Wolverine and Sabretooth are incredible. They are violent, gut-wrenching, and feral like Wolverine is supposed to be. Hugh Jackman has just mastered the character, the same way Heath Ledger mastered the Joker, I would say. Deadpool and Gambit are awesome, well acted and portrayed in the movie. I can't wait for their spin-off movies (both screenplays are being written right now), because they aren't in the movie nearly enough to make me happy. You only see Gambit throw a deck of cards once (and of course, they blow Wolverine straight through a brick wall). Liev Schreiber, who I recognized but don't know from what, was freaking perfect for Sabretooth. He's got this smooth voice that matches this vicious look that he gets on his face, and I got tingles every time he'd laugh. The scene you have seen in the previews where Wolverine takes down a helicopter is obviously a bit extreme, but it is hard-core fun! Do me a favor, don't listen to those reviews. Go see Wolverine, it is awesome. I give it a B+, marked down from an A for 2 reasons: 1) They didn't use Gambit and Deadpool enough, and 2) they got some unknown actor to play Gambit when they could have had the guy who plays Sawyer on Lost! How perfect would he have been??? Not that they guy that they got is bad, he does fine, I just couldn't get over the fact that they were in talks with the guy who plays Sawyer and didn't sign him!

No Biking...

2009-04-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since my last bike ride. A couple of weeks ago I rode up onto the Headlands by myself, but I didn't get far before the clip on the bottom of one of my my shoes that attaches to my pedal lost a screw and got stuck. That made it very difficult to continue pedaling, so I just coasted back home. Bummer. But I did see a bobcat! That was cool. The one I saw was not as big as I thought they were. Maybe I just saw a small one.

This swine flu thing has me scratching my head a little bit. On the one hand, all the hype is making me really want to protect my pregnant wife. All the stores here are sold out of hand sanitizer and face masks, and people are actually starting to wear them in public. There were two cases in Marin County already, so its really close to home. The thing that has me scratching my head is, why all the hype? So there have been several hundred cases across the world already, but last time I checked, 6.5 billion people live on the earth, and out of a couple hundred thousand people living in this county, two have tested positive for the disease. As a result, hospitals are being overrun and are setting up tents outside to accommodate all the masses of people, the entire country of Mexico is shut down, and no one is shaking hands in order to avoid passing on the virus. Now, I understand the concern over a pandemic, the virus can be passed on pretty easily and people have died from it. Isn't the common flu virus passed around every year? Don't thousands, maybe even millions of people catch the flu? And I would think that in Mexico, where healthcare is not nearly as advanced and available as ours is, a lot more people would die of it than in America, especially those who are in unstable health anyway. I'm not saying that this pig flu is the same as common flu, I understand it is new and not fully understood yet, so people are just being cautious, right? This just has me confused. By the way, this is not a political rant, although I could pretty easily tie it together. I'm just sayin'.

A New Day

2009-04-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is now a happy blog. My days of political rants are over. They will be limited now to little complaints now and then, but no more talking about the silly little people who pretend to run the country. If anyone so much as mentions the name of anyone who works in so-called "government" on my blog from now on I will ban you forever. Just kidding, but it better be important! Not that I won't be paying attention to it anymore and forming my opinions, but I prefer not to make my opinions public. Its a really sucky world out there and getting suckier. Popular public opinion on certain topics run purely contrary to some of my views and beliefs. This is just a little blog among billions of websites, and I don't even know how to change how it looks, let alone generate enough public interest to get into trouble. I'm not afraid of getting sucked into the public spotlight, because its just not going to happen. I just don't want people who may or may not know me to judge me because of the opinions I hold. If you want my take on public issues, ask me. I'm just not going to advertise them anymore on my pathetic little website. If someone will just get to it and buy me a helmet camera, and get me some editing software, I'll turn this into a HARD CORE BIKING BLOG!!! I've wanted to do something like that for a long time actually. I've been on tons of trails in Utah, Nevada, and now California and I want to share them with the WORLD!!! So check back regularly so I can tell you about my latest adventure on two wheels! Its going to be an awesome summer -- I've already got Lake Tahoe, Moab, Downieville, and Yosemite on the calendar, so stick around.

Last Saturday

2008-11-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

I know its been a while since Saturday, but Tamara and I actually had a very adventurous Saturday (November 15th).

I got up about 7:00 like I do pretty much every day. I've found with the sun coming up earlier it is harder for me to sleep in, even on weekends. I actually like that too. It makes my day seem a little longer and I can get more done. The weather was amazing -- sunny, 60 degrees at sunrise, not a bit of fog anywhere to be seen. I had decided the night before that I wanted to go biking, so I checked my tire pressure, filled my camelback, and rode my beautiful Specialized Stumpjumper (mountain bike) straight off my apartment building's front steps. In less than 3 minutes I was on a trail. You can see our apartment building just beyond the bushes in this picture, and I'm standing on the trail. That's how close we are to the Marin Headlands and Golden Gate National Park -- I am standing in the National Park! Pretty freaking sweet. So my ride took me higher and higher in elevation and closer and closer to the southern tip of the northern peninsula of the San Francisco Bay, where the Golden Gate Bridge connects us to San Francisco and the southern peninsula. In between myself and the Bridge though is a series of hills and valleys that I would have to ride across in order to get to. I didn't have a map, so I figured, what the heck! And I struck out to find an off-road route to the Golden Gate Bridge from my apartment.

This is the view North. The water is Richardson Bay, a little inlet from the San Francisco Bay.

The view South from the same spot as above. Sorry about the glare, the sun was really bright. You can see Angel Island, the largest island in the Bay, and the Sausalito Harbor.

The view West. This is the Marin Headlands and the core of Golden Gate National Park. This is how close we live to the Pacific Ocean -- surrounded by it on three sides.

My most prized posession. I love my bike so much, that thing is a STUD.

I eventually found the Bridge, which has a walking/bike route on either side. It was windy but a pretty thrilling experience to ride across the Bridge. The whole thing sways in the wind and you can't feel it while driving, but standing there, you can feel it. Its kind of unnerving, but a thrill for sure.

The Rock (Alcatraz) from the Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco, Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, and Oakland from the Golden Gate Bridge.

So that was my exciting morning. It's 11:00 PM now, I'm tired and I haven't even gotten to our trip to Point Reyes that we took that afternoon! I'll have to get to that later.

Real quick though, Tamara and I watched a really great San Francisco movie last night: The Rock, with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage. That was an awesome flick, I gotta say. The only thing was that it was kind of hard not to hope that the terrorists would get one little bomb off to land on San Francisco City Hall... JOKING (mostly). Anyway, if you ever want to see a really cool action movie check out The Rock!

Not Much To Blog About

2008-11-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, now that the election is over and the proposition 8 riots have gotten off the front page, I don't have much to talk about. Work has been keeping me extremely busy. There is a $1000 bonus being offered to the assistant manager in the region who comes up with the lowest delinquent accounts in November and December, and I think I've got a pretty good chance at getting it. If you don't know what that means, you would think people would just pay their rent by the day it is due, right? Well, as a property manager I have learned that only about 75% of people understand that. Rent at our property is due on the 1st day of every month, and late fees are charged on the 3rd. Simple formula, right? Well, today is the 14th, and I still have several accounts that have not paid a dime yet. I have several others who have bounced rent checks, and who only made partial payments, and who have been just a few dollars short for some reason. I started the process to evict a guy for non-payment of rent yesterday. That stinks for him and for me, because eviction will cost him close to $3,000 when his rent was just $1,700. It stinks for me because that's going to make it tougher for me to get my $1000 bonus... Yesterday, I had been trying and trying and trying to get ahold of some residents who owed $100 and $400. They didn't return my calls, didn't respond to my emails, and ignored my eviction letters that I send out before I can evict someone. Both residents had parents who had co-signed on the apartment (like co-signing for a loan), so finally I called these residents' parents to tell them what was going on because going to evictions affects co-signers too. One of the parents said "Ok I'll call my daughter and get her to take care of this, I'm very sorry about her behavior". The other parent flipped out on me and started into "My son is very responsible! He has a job and I pay his rent every month when he can't afford it! You must have lost his check" I waited until she was finished with her little emotional outburst, then explained that my call was only a courtesy to let her know that if I did not receive payment by the following day, her son would be evicted. She said she'd put a check in the mail. Very sad. Mom pays her son's rent, and insists it is my fault that he hasn't called me back, responded to email, or taken eviction notices seriously. Well, I'm not involved in the way she is raising her kids, I just want the money.

The Office is on the rise again! Last night was the funniest episode in a very long time! The opening part was SO HILARIOUS!!! Michael in the conference room is explaining foreign traditions and the need to be globally aware because he is going on an international business trip -- to Canada. Michael says to Meredith "Pretend you're an Arab". Meredith: (Arab accent) "Hello". Michael: "I am offended by your naked face. I must cover it with my jacket." (Michael covers Meredith's face with his suit jacket) "Now, you are sexy in your culture." Awkward silence. Break for opening song. Andy creates some incredibly awkward moments hanging out with Oscar in a bar, Jim and Pam make progress, and Michael... poor Michael. Very funny, I was laughing the whole time.

Back to the Things that Actually Matter

2008-11-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

Thursday night's review of the latest episode of The Office! I'm going to try not to spoil anything here in case you haven't seen it, but if you are really sensitive then watch it before you read this. That was my disclaimer so don't leave me any comments like "thanks for ruining it for me" now.

This was the best episode of the season so far. The reason: no Holly. Like I said, I actually like Holly and am glad she is in the show now, but she was like a great song on the radio that is overplayed -- I got sick of her. Thankfully there was not so much as a reference to her in this episode. This time, Michael is back to playing stupid tricks on everybody else that blow up in his own face (I cracked up when he hung up the phone on his own mom!), Jim pisses off Andy by drinking out of his cup and torments Dwight during a training-session roleplay phone call, and of course the painfully awkward love triangle between Dwight, Andy, and Angela gets a little more painfully awkward. Also the Jim and Pam drama deepens a little bit. It will be interesting to see what direction they take it from here, but I just hope that they don't drag it out too much longer. Jim's overall mood is really melancholy and I think it takes more away from the show than it adds. The one thing I hope more than anything is that they are not making a slow transition into eliminating one of the show's key characters: Pam. I'd be really sad if she quit the show.

We bought a crib today. Its wierd seeing baby stuff pop up all over the apartment. We don't have much stuff yet, but magazines and books and pictures and stuff is starting to appear, Tamara's tummy is starting to stick out, and this baby thing is sinking in more and more. We'll find out what gender it is (and I can finally stop referring to it as "it") in December. I am looking forward to that so we can decide on a name and pick out some colors and things. I actually have enjoyed going into baby stores like Pottery Barn Kids with Tamara. They have rooms set up that I would have dreamed of having when I was a kid -- a bunk bed with the bottom bunk covered with Spider Man sheets and the top covered with Batman sheets! Awesome! I'd kill for something like that right now, but Tamara says I'm too old. Whatever.

Thoughts on Becoming a Daddy

2008-11-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be a daddy in six months. Honestly, after typing that sentence, I have sat here trying to think what to say next for almost 2 minutes. What do you follow that up with? I am excited, scared, happy, humbled, ... if I could pick one word to sum it all up that word would be "shocked", meaning in a state of shock. I mean its reality that I am going to be a dad, its happening, and its happening now not later. All my life becoming a dad was something that would happen "later" when its "time". All of a sudden "later" is here and the "time" is now. If you had asked me when I was 16 or 17 years old when I thought I would become a dad, I would have said when I was 23 or 24 probably. Well, I'm 24, about to become a dad, and I can't believe it. I've had little responsibilities for a long time now. I wasn't really responsible for anything until I got home from my mission and began to get into management of restaurants and hotels, leadership positions at school, and leadership callings at church. Some of those responsibilities seemed big to me at the time, but thinking about being a dad makes all of the other things I have ever done seem completely meaningless in comparison. I've had a pretty selfish existence almost my whole life. I mean as a kid people put a lot of time and effort into developing me into who I would grow up to be. I worked my butt off before and after my mission in order to develop myself professionally and that has paid off. I can look back on my life and see the Hand of the Lord in my life in so many areas to make huge differences and put me into the position I am in right now: in California, working for a great company, married to the most perfect person for me in the world. All of it, everything I have ever done and worked toward and existed for culminates eventually in this moment: I am about to become a dad. People put all that effort into me so I would eventually be a good dad. I worked my butt off so that I would eventually be a better dad. I went on a mission so that I could be a better dad. The Lord has changed and influenced my life for many reasons, but ultimately, every time the Lord has blessed me or answered a prayer, it has been not only to help me through times and experiences in my life, but also to make me a better dad.

Anyway enough of this serious stuff. Sometimes I get a little too over-dramatic. I am very intimidated and excited to be a daddy. I'm going to have to learn how to change a diaper, and I am absolutely not looking forward to that. I'm going to have to get creative in providing things for my kids to do too because I am not going to be the kind of parent that lets my kids watch 3 hours of tv per day and play video games the rest of the time. If its a girl, she will get a BYU cheerleader outfit as soon as she's big enough to fit into one, and if its a boy, he will get all the bicycle toys I can possibly manipulate him into playing with. I just can't wait to see what my kids are going to look like, what color of eyes they are going to have, will they look more like Palmers or Larsens, what if my girls like football and biking and my boys like cooking and puppies... I can't wait to create the memories with my kids that my parents, especially my dad, made with me. I have great memories of camping, canoeing, hiking, biking, road trips, long talks, football games, and so many other things with my dad. I just hope, when its all done, that I can be as good of a dad to my kids as my dad has been to me. He's been the biggest influence for good that I have ever had, and its no wonder that of the 5 kids he's raised not one has strayed from the basic things we were taught from day 1 by him and my mom. The next 6 months will go by so fast...

Favorite Shows: Down the Tubes?

2008-10-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am afraid that the tv shows I once considered the salvation of television have become prey to the curse that brought tv to the lows of the '90s and early 2000s. Poetic, yes?

Well, we're still not quite in that horrible of a rut (Family Matters or Full House anyone? I didn't think so), but the fact is all my favorite shows have taken a turn for the worse over the past few weeks/months. We'll start with Heroes.

The first season was very, very good. The show did a good job connecting viewers with the characters as they go through the process of discovering their special abilities. The line between good and bad was clear with some (Sylar: bad, Peter: good) and murky with others (Nathan, Mohinder). The whole key and climax of the season was the "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" concept, which kept it simple, interesting, and fun to watch. The second season was also good, although not quite as good as the first because it began to get a little complicated as it followed certain characters back and forward in time (always a bad idea unless you're Steven Spielberg and you don't take it too seriously), and there were too many different quests to follow. Season 2 was cut short because of the writers strike and did not have a very fulfilling finish. Now I will get into the disaster that is season 3 or whatever the current season is, its really that confusing. All of a sudden, all of the characters have done a complete turnaround: the good have become bad and the bad have become good. There isn't really much development or explanation over why the characters have all had a change of heart. Some characters find out they are related to others and suddenly they decide to become murderers or world-savers. There is no goal or anything to work toward. It goes one episode to the next without any kind of development because there is nothing to develop. The attachment to the characters that was built in the first season is gone because these characters are all different. I think the biggest disappointment for me is Noah, who in the first and second season was so pivotal because of his loyalties, which he struggled with. The things he did to protect his daughter were awesome and sometimes very intense. He was ready to bring down the company running everything, and do whatever it took to do it. Now he barely has a role at all, and he's just working for the company again like nothing ever happened. It is so ridiculously complicated now with so many different stories to follow and nobody coming together that I have no idea what is going on half the time. So that's Heroes.

My next big show disappointment will surprise you. Its been my favorite show for four years now:

Yes my friends, I have said it. Season 5 of The Office sucketh so far. I like the addition of Holly, but she has been more focused on than old classics like the Dwight/Jim rivalry. I haven't seen Jim put Dwight's stuff in jello, hide his desk in the bathroom, tape him up in a box to spy on people, or send him faxes from the future in a long time and I really miss that. Andy was virtually non-existent until last night's episode (which was mostly funny, but still had problems which I will shortly discuss). Holly has been a more central character than even Pam, one of the key figures of the first four seasons (no Pam, Michael, Jim, and Dwight, no show). The biggest problem is that The Office is starting to take itself seriously. Jim's relationship with Pam isn't fun to watch anymore, and the Michael/Holly drama (if you didn't watch last night you'll see what I mean) is too serious for this show. I mean its ok for an episode here and there, but in all of the episodes this season so far, there has been a crucial moment of drama, and that is not what this show is. It is a light-hearted comedy with some elements of drama that are ok as long as you stick to the comedy. Too much drama this season, not enough Dwight & Andy (although last night was a breath of fresh air -- the only thing missing was Jim). I find myself wishing Dwight would take Ryan back to the beet farm on a journey of self-discovery. Anything to lighten things up.

People, Do You Even Know Me?

2008-10-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ok some messages I have been receiving suggest that people don't know me as well as I thought they did. The following post about Elizabeth Hasselbeck is (mostly) just my sense of humor, ok?

A Solution For Everything

2008-10-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

The Republican Party needs a new face.

How about this one?

Elizabeth Hasselbeck would be a SLAM DUNK for the Republicans! What self respecting man would vote against her? I mean, she's hot first of all (and the first woman for whom I have said that about in front of my wife without her getting mad at me for it). If that's not enough (and for most men it ought to be), she brought down the thing called Rosie O'Donnell. I'm not sure why Rosie was ever even on that show that only allows women to sit at the table every day when Rosie obviously wishes she was a man. But hey, Elizabeth can claim that as experience on her resume. Its more worthwhile than anything Obama's got on his. So that's huge. Nobody likes Rosie anyway. Want more? Her husband is an NFL quarterback (Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks), she was the sexiest thing ever to happen to reality TV (Survivor), and in presidential debates, she'd just have to get feisty (she's good at it -- watch the View) and whoever is running against her would totally have to let her wear the pants (unless its Hillary, but we'd all still vote for Elizabeth because she's way hotter).

So if we lose in 2008, I would like to nominate Elizabeth Hasselbeck for 2012!

Tomales Point

2008-10-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

So as promised, I made it out to Point Reyes on Saturday! I left at 8 AM and the drive was nice, about 20 miles, mostly 2-lane highway through Redwood Forests. October is a nice time to visit because it is usually really clear and warm, while most of the rest of the year is foggy and colder. The sacrifice is in the colors -- spring and early summer are much greener, so if you are lucky enough to get to Point Reyes on a rare clear summer or spring day, that is when this place is at its best. I wasn't disappointed though -- I knew before I left that it was going to be very brown. Anyway, the Redwoods only accompanied my drive until I crossed the San Andreas Fault. For whatever reason, Redwoods give way to oak and other varieties as you cross the San Andreas Fault. Then there was just farmland as far as you could see for a little while, and finally the picture above is from the road, about 2 miles from the starting point of my hike. See all the trees? I like hiking in trees unless its in the desert (a.k.a. Zion, Moab, etc), but this area put a whole new spin on hiking for me.

The hike went to the end of this peninsula. All sounds of traffic and airplanes and the urban white noise was gone. All I could hear was the constant roar of the surf, the occasional seagull, the ringing of the bell on a buoy out at the point. I read somewhere that the surf here at Point Reyes is some of the strongest on the west coast, so it was smashing pretty violently into the cliffs. Just looking down I could see some pretty amazing rip-currents. That's the phenomenon that can happen when a strong wave brings a lot of water high onto the shore, and then rushes back out again. I've felt rip-currents as high as my waist that have been so strong it takes some concentration in order to stay on my feet. Looking at this surf from this high perspective, I could tell that there was no way I could stay on my feet in those rip-currents, which were easier deeper than I am tall.

There were tons of elk out there. I saw three herds total, and in each herd I counted 50 to 80 elk. Then as I got toward the end of the peninsula I spotted this huge rock off the shore that was covered with pelicans. They were just chilling, poking each other and flying around. They are big suckers, bigger than they look here. That is no small rock. Actually it is huge. I wish I had something to put it into perspective. Other wildlife I saw was in the water. I'm not sure exactly what it was I saw, but I definitely saw some shadows flitting around off the shore, just beyond the reach of the surf. I had read that this time of year humpback and gray whales are migrating southward, and certain kinds of rays and sharks are constant in the area. I wish I knew what I saw.

So the end of the hike was of course Tomales Point, 4.7 miles from the trailhead, which made for a 9.4 mile hike total. It took me three hours and was well worth the trip. It was great stress relief and put a new "theme" into my hiking portfolio. I had previously had Mountain Hiking, Desert Hiking, Forest Hiking, and now I've got Seashore Hiking.

Macaroni Grill Bread & Point Reyes

2008-10-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago Tamara made this bread that was EXACTLY like Macaroni Grill's bread that they give you while you wait for your food and its so good that you eat the whole thing and ask for more and get full before your food gets to you. She made 2 loaves of it, and they were both gone within a few hours of coming out of the oven. mmmmm....

So about 20 miles from our new place there is a "National Seashore" called Point Reyes. Tamara and I tried to get out there last Sunday to check it out, but the roads to get there were super twisty so we didn't quite make it because Tamara got car sick. I'm going to try and get out there this weekend myself though. Here's why:

These are all stolen from the internet. Next week I will have pictures of my own, I promise. It won't be quite as green or flowery this time of year, but I am still excited to get up there and check it out.

Hooray! The Wait Is Over!

2008-10-20T19:27:00.001-07:00

Hello again everyone! I finally got AT&T to send us a modem that works! We only lost a full week of connection to the outside world due to their incompetence! They said we would have a phone line activated and internet access by October 13th. October 13th came, a modem arrived via UPS, and a blinking red light showed that the modem was functional, but was not accessing the internet -- the customer support person said we just needed to wait for a solid red light. Well, October 13th ended, no solid red light, and no dial tone on the phone... The next morning, still no dial tone, and that blinking red light was no longer blinking -- it wasn't doing anything at all. Customer support said it was broken. They sent us a new one, but they gave UPS the wrong delivery address. Finally, Tamara called UPS and drove 15 miles this morning to San Rafael to pick up our modem from the UPS center. Sound like a mess? We'll see how long before we switch back to Comcast...

ANYWAY. The world is in turmoil. Barack Obama sucked in the most recent debate, because McCain wouldn't quit beating him into the ground on all of his lies and his shoving things that matter under the table. McCain clearly won the debate (stating otherwise is simply denial because you like Barack Obama -- he was very defensive), but the REAL STAR of the most recent debate was Joe the Plumber. If John McCain wins the election, he can thank Joe. If you don't know who Joe the Plumber is, google him. What an awesome story. He puts a face on the millions of Americans who would be negatively affected by liberal rhetoric. He represents people like me, who work for our money and set financial goals and try to make something of ourselves. Liberals want to decide what happens with his money. That is not capitalism. That is not what America was founded on. That is socialism, and that is why literally every European nation has extremely high unemployment rates and such mediocre economies. So the democrats want to control everyone's money and where it goes. That is not just wrong, it is evil, and reminds me of a certain premortal being who wanted to control everyone and what we would do in this life for "the sake of everyone". As I remember, that plan was rejected in favor of our freedom to choose for ourselves. Am I comparing Obama to Lucifer? You betcha. Does that make McCain Jehovah? Absolutely not. But I would certainly choose a fence-sitter over Lucifer. Sad, its true, but my cause is to stop Obama, not to elect McCain, unless that is what it takes to stop Obama, and right now that is our only chance I think.

I'm not going to get into BYU very much. They lost. National Title hopes, however stretched they might have been, are gone, as are any hopes of playing in a BCS Bowl game of any kind. If BYU can win out, they might be considered to play in the Las Vegas Bowl for the 4th year in a row against the 4th best PAC-10 team, which right now is Oregon State. That doesn't even sound interesting enough for me to tune in to watch, so why am I even blogging about it? It was pretty disappointing, that's all. I'm done. No more BYU football till next year.

So we're loving it here in Sausalito. I am so glad we moved! Before, we were living in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment that barely was big enough for us to fit our bed into, surrounded by three freeways and an airport, a huge mall across the street, and a massive construction zone right outside our bedroom window. Now, we've got an extra bedroom, a roomy living room, tons of storage, and we wake up to birds singing outside our bedroom window (where's my bb gun when I need it... stupid birds). The best thing is my 1-hour-each-way commute has been reduced to 3 minutes each way. I walk down the hill to my office, and walk back up for my break. That is nice. And for you Tupac fans (I know you're out there!) the neighborhood at the bottom of the hill is where Tupac got into his first fight, and his mom became a crack-whore (he raps about it in his song). Its been cleaned up pretty good since then, and it goes from ghetto to nice real quick.

My dumb dog Sampson (the wiener dog) was annoying me yesterday morning. I was trying to get Bruce (the chihuahua) ready to go outside and he was being very nice and patient, but when Sampson realized what I was doing, he got all excited and started jumping all over me and Bruce making this excited whining noise. It made it impossible for me to get Bruce's harness on, so I had to keep shoving him away, which Sampson took as a game at first, so I had to shove him a little more forcefully a couple of times to make sure he got the message. Finally, when he just wouldn't quit, I grabbed him and flipped him onto his back and pinned him down, and told him to stop really firmly. Then I started to feel something warm hit my face, an overwhelming pungent scent shot up my nose, a hot fumes started filling my mouth. I remembered too late that when Sampson gets startled or scared, he pees. We avoid playing rough with him because he'll have a little "accident". Well, Sampson had a little "accident" all over my freaking face. Sick. I spent the next half hour washing out my mouth and nose -- luckily he missed my eyes. I still feel a little sick... Now, as I type this, he is asleep on my lap. I just can't resist the little pisser.

Soon...

2008-10-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Since we moved last week we still haven't got internet. Thanks AT&T. They screwed us over pretty bad... We've had bad experiences in the past with Comcast and decided to give ATT a try. I am really starting to regret that. But anyway, I am using public internet right now and can't say much, but I know you are all waiting on pins and needles for my commentary on the latest debate, BYU's first loss in 17 games, and the very interesting story about my experience with ATT. Soon... Soon...

One Last Thing (For Now)

2008-10-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

I know some people are tired of me blogging about politics, but right now there are so many things going on that directly affect our future and I feel very passionate about what happens in a few weeks. Especially in California, if Proposition 8 does not pass, the effects on my church of course won't destroy it's ability to function, but if the Temple refuses to officiate or recognize gay marriage as the law will require... I don't know what the outcome of that will be.

Let me just point out a few simple facts for those of you thinking voting for Obama or allowing him to be our next president won't be such a bad thing. How do you feel about the war? Do you want to see our troops come home in defeat? How do you feel about taxes? Do you want to pay more? Elect Obama and you may not pay more in taxes (although most economists and accountants agree that his numbers don't add up and regardless of what he says you will eventually have to pay more taxes in order to afford his slew of unnecessary proposed programs) but you will pay higher prices on gas, food, and imported products. Do you have moral problems with abortion or gay marriage? Rest assured, Obama will appoint judges to the supreme court who will pass every case for abortion rights and gay rights that comes their way, so that gay marriage and abortion is cemented into place in society. The effects of that on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and every other Christian church that opposes gay marriage and abortion, will be devastating. Here in California there is a proposal to be voted on in November that Obama is a big fan of: it states that under-age girls should be able to get an abortion without their parents' permission. With an extreme liberal congress, a radically liberal president, and his hand-picked judges in the supreme court, that "system of checks and balances" goes right down the tubes, and in four years, can you imagine the mess that the next president, God bless his or her soul, will have to deal with?

Do yourself and your ignorant friends planning to vote for Obama a favor and vote for McCain. Ignore the liberal media rhetoric, saying its already over and Obama has won. Gore was ahead of Bush by 11 points in the polls at this time 8 years ago (Obama leads by 4 or 5 right now), and even that goon John Kerry lead Bush in the polls at this time 4 years ago. Its still anyone's race. Make it happen.

Round 2: Landslide!

2008-10-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

The second presidential debate was tonight, and I expected it to be boring like the last one was. I think McCain seemed unprepared for it and Obama just continued his meaningless rhetoric about change without substance. Tonight, however, McCain was leading the charge and Obama was overwhelmed! I listened to a lot of it on the radio on my homeward commute tonight, and I got so pumped when McCain called Obama out on his tax plan. If you aren't aware, Obama has promised to cut taxes for 95% of all Americans, while dramatically increasing taxes on the "rich" (which he defines as any entity, person or business, taking in more that $250k per year). McCain has proposed a tax cut for everyone, including the rich. Everyone gets a similar percentage lower taxes to put more spending money into the economy, but incidentally McCain's plan means millions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil companies, which Obama continually harps on. What Mr. Obama does not seem to realize, is that sure, cutting taxes for middle-income families is nice and all, but if you increase taxes on businesses, those businesses have to "cut the fat". People get fired. Money drains from the economy. Prices go up. So sure, your taxes go down 5%, but the cost of milk, bread, and gas goes up 10% or more in order for these businesses to afford to do business. I'm sorry, Obama, but the only way of reviving this economy is by putting more free-trade money (not government owned, like this assinine bailout program that is not working at all) into it, by getting rid of useless government programs, eliminating wasteful spending, and putting all those billions of wasted dollars back into everyone's, including oil companies', pockets. McCain did a great job tonight pointing out all the garbage and rhetoric that defines Barack Obama's "policies". In the foreign policy arena, I think McCain made it absolutely obvious that Obama would lead our country directly into Al Qaeda's plans. He wants to bomb Pakistan!? Why in the world would we attack our ally? His logic made perverse sense, but he has the "judgment" of a jackass (he'll admit to that -- its the democrat party symbol) on how to conduct foreign affairs. Obama dodged question after question, hardly ever answering anything directly because he DOES NOT WANT US TO KNOW WHAT HIS REAL RADICAL POSITIONS ARE!!! He is an extremist, folks. I'm not saying I think he is going to start the next holocaust, KGB, or fascism, but in his way he really is not much different from Stalin, Castro, or Saddam Hussein. When you look past the words he says and see his actions in the past you can see what kind of man he really is. He is a power-hungry, controlling socialist, and if he is elected president, America will of course survive, but it will be a struggle. You think gas is expensive now? Food and rent? Paying too much in taxes? Barely feel like you are getting by? Just wait till a year from now and Obama is president (God forbid). You will feel it 10 times worse.

Anyway, I think McCain took round 2 in a landslide. He really made Obama look like the fool he is. Next round, I think McCain needs to do a little focusing on Obama's social record, and how Obama is a friend to terrorists and left wing extremists like Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers (and more). That is not speculation or rumor, by the way. It is a factual matter of record. Those men are terrorists and extremists who wish America would go to hell. And Obama launched his campaign in William Ayers' living room.

Disturbing

2008-10-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

Tamara and I were talking about politics (she loves listening to me talk about politics) and of course Sarah Palin came up because we are both such big fans. Tamara told me a disturbing experience she had with a co-worker. She and her boss sometimes talk a little about politics in a light, easy tone. They don't agree on everything, but they don't judge each other, which essentially is how it ought to be. However, when Tamara brought up Sarah Palin, another co-worker who Tamara has a lot of respect for chimed in and said "I just don't know about her." Tamara of course said "Why in the world not? She's great!" Her co-worker said "Well, 2 things. First, she's a mom! How can she be vice president when she has kids to take care of?" My and Tamara's thoughts were "Well, you have kids and you're working... what's the difference?" but Tam didn't say anything. Her co-worker went on "Second, she knew she was going to have a handicapped baby and she had it anyway." Did you get that? Read that line again. Tamara, shocked that a person she respects could possibly be saying this, gave her an amazed look and said "What are you talking about?" Her co-worker explained that having a mentally handicapped baby was going to be a burden on the rest of the family and that the baby wouldn't have a good life because of the handicap. At that point the conversation was interrupted and that was the end.

How sick does that make you? This kind of thinking is commonplace out here. Utah is so polar-opposite we were more than a little shocked to find out that people we interact with every day and perceive as good and honorable actually support slaughtering babies because they have a handicap, while on the other hand they are pushing for felony charges against anyone who disciplines their dog "too violently". I just can't believe that people are using the fact that Sarah Palin "chose to give birth to that baby" against her, as a case of poor judgment, and a case against her character. I learned some years ago in a philosophy class about utilitarianism, which philosophy supports killing the elderly, chronically sick, mentally handicapped, homeless, and basically anyone who takes more than they give to society. I thought this viewpoint was something extreme that not too many people could hold because it is inhumane, evil, disgusting and wrong. The supporters of abortion rights, however, and the people who suggest Sarah Palin would have been more humane if she had had an abortion, are pure utilitarians, who want to kill the people who will take more from society than they will give. I would have found it hard to believe that a large number of utilitarians exist six months ago. Now I am afraid that the world is full of them, and one of the most popular men in the world (Obama) is one of them.

BYU Football, For Those That Care

2008-10-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed to admit that I know a lot of you my avid fans don't share my keen interest in BYU football. So to you who don't care, I just want to say you are missing out on one of the truest joys of life: being a fan of a successful football team! Check it out:

BYU currently holds the longest active winning streak in the country
BYU had two shutouts in a row, almost three (which would have been a school record...), for a defense that was supposed to be the team's achilles heel
BYU quarterback Max Hall is #2 in line to win the Heisman Trophy, the most honored prize given to any individual player in all of football, NFL or college, as a reward for being the BEST PLAYER THAT YEAR
BYU and U of U are on track to both play undefeated until their game in November, which will be the last of the regular season -- if both teams stay undefeated, they will ultimately be playing to get into a prestigious BCS bowl, or in BYU's case, if they win, they could feasibly play in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
This year's BYU vs Utah game is going to be the most interesting matchup between the rivals that has ever been played, and one of the most interesting rival games ever played in any sport between any teams ever
BYU Coach Bronco Mendenhall would make a great President of the United States of America

Palin vs Biden

2008-10-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is my take on the debate. My political commentary might be boring for some of you to read, but for me sitting here and typing my point of view is my way of really establishing to myself what my point of view is. It makes me organize my thoughts into something that makes sense, at least to myself. Living on our own here in California, Tamara and I are realizing just how different Utah is from the rest of the country. Really, every part of the country is very different from all other parts, but to Utah's credit, it is the state that is least affected by the financial crisis, while California is possibly the most affected. I see the effects everywhere I go. Homeless and unemployment rates are getting higher, and taxes are going up. Stores, dealerships, and offices are closing down, banks are failing, and everywhere you look you see signs for Obama's campaign and gay rights. I think the difference, to be honest, is strong leadership in Utah, and the successful application of conservatism, which takes the government out of people's personal lives as much as possible. Therefore, without the meddling hand of government to screw everything up, a thriving free market keeps Utah afloat when the rest of the government-controlled country (especially the absolute socialist city of San Francisco) is sinking like a rock. Mad props to Utah.

Anyway, my point in all of that is that in only 6 months here in California my perspective on the political workings of this country have been changed. I was always conservative in Utah, but I never saw for myself the effects of a democrat-controlled government. Now, in the most liberal part of the country, I have to deal with their absolute nonsense legislation at a local level. I swear, every time I hear Gavin Newsom (the "Honorable" Mayor of San Francisco) say anything at all I just want to throw up. He takes away more rights and freedom of personal citizens every single day. He is all about government control and socialism, and he, like Obama and Biden, is an enemy of freedom. This state is a mess because of assinine (the democrat symbol is, coincidentally, a jackass) policies of democrats. No, not democrats, because the democrats of today are not the democrats of yesterday, like John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, or Franklin D. Roosevelt, who actually had some honor and respect for freedom and this country. The "democrats" of today, like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Gavin Newsom, Billary, Obama, and Biden, actually have more in common with Castro, Lenin, and Marx. They are about control and power and blowing government up so that it controls nearly every aspect of people's lives. It makes me sick and horrified. I truly worry sometimes that one day I will tell stories to my kids and grandkids about the time when America let people be free and make their own choices and didn't control everything.

So the debate was so much better than the presidential debate a few nights ago. I think there was more riding on this debate than there was on the presidential debate. Both candidates were far more appealing and genuine. Biden, I have to give credit, was incredibly good at one thing: lying. I've never seen a more convincing liar. He denied several times that he and Obama had never said things that I had clearly heard them both say, like positions on the war, the troop surge, and Obama's experience. And Sarah Palin, I have to say, failed to call him out on his lying. He shamelessly called her truth lies, and she didn't defend them, and she didn't call him in his lies. I was puzzled by that. She was right on in so many ways, though. On nearly all of the issues I am right there with her and I was proud of her, but I do not think she went after Biden like she should have. Its like she was trying too hard to be nice. I wanted to see the pitbull with lipstick. Aside from that, I am re-energized by her. It is such a breath of fresh air into politics for a new kind of leadership in the republican party. Corrupt and greedy republicans have been making headlines for too long, and now that we have someone with a real engenuity makes me proud again of my party. I love seeing the media stretching so far to smear and destroy her and realizing just how not-stupid the majority of the country is. Only the Bay Area is as stupid as the media thinks :) The rest of the country doesn't buy their garbage, and good for them.

Tamara's Tortilla Soup

2008-10-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Its d@$# good! Tamara's Tortilla Soup that she made for me tonight was some of the most delicious stuff I have ever eaten in my whole life. I could eat it every day for as long as I live. Everyone go to her blog right now, http://tambampalmer.blogspot.com/, and ask her how she makes it, cause we need to spread this love all over the world. This is the miracle stuff right here! It will cure all forms of cancer, get John McCain elected president, cause earthquakes in California that separate San Francisco from the mainland so it can declare independency from the US, win the war in Iraq, and get Led Zeppelin to do a reunion tour for affordable ticket prices!

Budget Proposal

2008-09-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I e-mailed the John McCain Campaign, and this is what I said:

Dear Senator McCain, I am very concerned about this issue as well, and I know that youpersonally are not able to review and answer every e-mail so towhomever receives this, I want to voice my opinion. I have lost a bitof confidence in Senator McCain on this issue. Why do we need tochange from a free market to a socialist, government-controlledmarket? We need to incentivize our citizens who love freedom anddemocracy to purchase foreclosed homes and put their own money intothe market! Tax credits to people who spend their money will really goa long way, and this trillion dollars of non-existent money can beturned into real, liquid cash! Why do we want to put ourselves inmassive debt? This is not a budget proposal that a republican shouldsupport and I am proud of the courage of the representatives,republican and democrat alike, who stood against this faulty plan. Weneed to re-focus, and find a way to let a free market heal itselfrather than having a government-fix-all attitude like our Europeancounterparts. Lets not create more problems for our future generationsto deal with. Take down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac! Don't reward them!Please Senator McCain, I know you are a courageous man and I have alot of respect and honor for you. This bill does not deserve yourrespect. It is wrong. It is against American values. Please stand forchange. Please stand against this plan.

I just re-read it and it sounds kind of cheesy some of the wording, but its pretty straight up how I feel about this proposal. Yeah, its true, the government unfortunately has to do something to get the market back on track. We have never had a financial crisis like this in the history of our country besides the Great Depression. But what in the world makes them think pumping 7 billion non-existent dollars into the market is going to help? For the short term it probably will, but we can fix this long-term by incentivizing people with tax credits! There have never been this many foreclosed homes on the market ever! Billions of dollars are sitting wasted in these foreclosed homes that are worthless to the banks that own them, and the dollar is inflating dramatically because of it. If the federal government said "Hey, I'll give a $5,000 tax credit to anyone that buys a foreclosed home", guess what! PROBLEM SOLVED!!! I would get two in California right now! In a few months it would be about impossible to even find a foreclosed home, billions of real, liquid cash dollars would float back into the market, and in 5 years the federal government, i.e. the taxpayers, don't have a $7 billion (plus interest) bill to pay off. If you care enough about this issue to have read this far, you should e-mail the campaign like I did. The more voices they hear the better.

Presidential Debate

2008-09-26T22:27:00.001-07:00

I watched the presidential debate tonight, and wow. What is wrong with America? How did these two jokers get into the top ring of American politics? As they went back and forth like two bickering kids who can't agree on a thing or allow the other to complete a thought, I came to the conclusion that I agree with very little that either of these guys think, and the decision we have to make is who will do less damage to the country. You all know how I feel about Barack Hussein Obama. I think he is a slimy, lying, deceiving America hater who thinks that only he himself knows what is best for all Americans. He won't listen to anyone else's ideas and considers himself and his "superior judgment" to be the end-all to any debate about his absolute lack of any relevant experience. Well, his "superior judgment" would have sent yet another team of U.N. officials to Iraq after 15 years of that not working and our kids would have been stuck with a terrorist-ridden Iraqi government, Iranian government, Afghani Pakistani and Syrian governments. Leave the country to Barack Hussein Obama's "superior judgment" and in a few years we won't even have a country anymore, I truly believe that. I have a great deal more respect for John McCain and the things that he has actually accomplished in his life. If anyone is actually ready to be president right now it is him. He has so much experience, and to his credit, he has taken an active position against wasteful government spending and I believe that his plan to revitalize the economy will work. Why though does he think its ok to spend money to fight global warming? Talk about wasteful spending, every dollar spent on that is WASTED!!! 30 years from now our grandkids will be learning about the hoax that changed America in history classes. I said early that I agree with little that these guys talk about but thats not really true. I do agree mostly with John McCain but he is not the solid, charismatic, inspiring republican that Ronald Reagan was and that I think this country needs now more than ever, ever before. Even a Franklin W Roosevelt would be great right now, and he was a democrat! That was in a time when big government was a little more necessary. We do not need a faker like Obama right now when things are going down the drain like never before. We need someone who can step up and be a true leader. Enter Sarah Palin. If I can appreciate any one specific thing about John McCain its that he gave us Sarah Palin. If anyone in today's American political scene will fill Ronald Reagan's shoes it is Sarah Palin. She is so solid, and everything the media does to smear and destroy her only further validates her strength and the potential for good she has. Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln, the Gods of the Republican Party, we both hated by the media too. They were smeared and lied about and made out as absolute fools, and subsequently elected president and accomplished more than any other presidents ever. History repeats itself. I hope she doesn't let it get to her and that she stays around on the political scene. We need her badly. Want to see what I am talking about then watch the debate between her and Joe "Hairplug" Biden on October 2nd. That will be awesome to see what kind of stupid stuff she can get him to say. I can't wait. I'll check in after it.

Reunited With My Friends From The Office

2008-09-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

The Office is back! Just a few short years ago TV was so worthless. It still is mostly. 90% of the time is just a bunch of stupid soap operas, cheesy/immoral reality shows (regularly scheduled so-called "news programs" are included with these), and lame movies that people don't even waste their money renting anymore. In fact, I had pretty much sworn off watching TV altogether for a while except sports (still a sucker for football), and then one day I was introduced to a show called the Office, which was in its second season at the time. I resisted at first, because after all TV was such a waste of time and all shows were just dumb. Then I saw a clip of Jim sending Dwight faxes from himself from the future, and Dwight making a brilliant, diving maneuver across the office to save Stanley from the poisoned coffee. I was hooked. Tamara and I were engaged at the time, and we made a great decision together to purchase The Office Season 1 on DVD. The rest is history. Now we are best friends with Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, Andy, and the rest of the brilliant cast of The Office. Season 5 kicked off today with a hysterical hour-long season opener about a corporate weight loss competition between all of the branches. Michael and Dwight, of course, are die-hard about winning the competition and will do whatever it takes, including kidnapping Phyllis (who is a little resistant) and dropping her off 5 miles away from the office without her phone or money, forcing her to excercise and lose a little weight. Kelly, who is already stick-thin, goes on a maple syrup and lemon juice "cleansing" diet. Halfway through the episode she almost dies from it. The funniest moment came when Holly, the new HR lady, finds out that Kevin actually is not mentally retarded (Dwight lied to her in the finale last season that Kevin was "special", and Kevin was just "special" enough to play right into the role). Holly scolds Angela for calling him stupid because he is mentally handicapped, and Kevin is like, "Wait a minute, what?" and Angela says "Wow, that is such a horrible thing to say." Hilarious! One of the funniest moments ever! And the best moment comes at the very, very end, which I won't spoil for you if you haven't seen it. Watch it on the website. It kind of comes out of nowhere, keyword (if you've seen it) GAS STATION! Yay! I was happy after that scene. Very nicely done. If you don't watch The Office, start watching The Office. TV has been legitimized again.

More Tahoe Pics

2008-09-18T23:33:00.001-07:00

I can't hope to compete with Amberly's blog right now. She just had a baby, so I figured I'd just post a few more Tahoe pictures. Enjoy.

Back From Tahoe

2008-09-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Tamara and I just got back from Lake Tahoe yesterday. On Friday we drove up to Truckee to bike the Emigrant Trail in the Sierra Nevadas north of Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately Tamara wasn't feeling too well, but she was still tough. While most people who weren't feeling great before their first real mountain bike ride would have sat out, Tamara gave it her best shot, and it was a good one! We rode a couple miles of up-and-down trail before she was ready to call it a day and head back. So we got four miles of great singletrack including a hardcore splashdown into a two-foot deep creek that got me soaked knees down. Tamara took the bridge :).

After the bike ride we headed down to our campsite at D.L.Bliss State Park on the west shore of the lake. We set up our camp as soon as we got there to avoid having to set it up in the dark later on, and then we decided to hike down to the shore about a mile away. It was a lot farther than a mile by the trail we took. My stupid map was very misleading. But we got some pretty pictures of the lake.

Tamara made some great fajitas for dinner while I set up the rest of camp.

After a rough night (noisy bugs and dreams about bear attacks) we got up and had breakfast, and packed up our stuff wishing that we could stay another night. Tamara drove me up to the top of a mountain above the lake and dropped me off with my bike. Then she drove down to the bottom to meet me later. The trail was the world famous Flume Trail, sporting some of the best views of Lake Tahoe that you can possibly get. Enjoy my monologue.

I actually took even more videos, but they were a little more boring. I finally met up with Tamara almost an hour later than planned... Oops, she wasn't too happy about that, but we went to a beach and rented a kayak and that was fun enough to make her happy again.

Scariest Video I Have Ever Seen

2008-09-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Check out this video, especially if you are "on the fence" or considering voting for Obama. It is amazing what the media is willing to ignore in order to avoid letting a Republican get into the White House. I don't agree with everything that the video focuses on -- some I think is a non-issue but some of it makes me incredulous that this guy ever got anywhere near this far. http://www.theurbangrind.net/?p=2570

Mr. T Talks Smack!

2008-09-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Scroll all the way to the bottom of this page for a must-see video.

Earthquake!

2008-09-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last night Tamara and I rented an old western movie, Hang Em High. We wanted to watch an old Clint Eastwood movie and that one looked interesting. It was kind of stupid actually. Well, it was decent until the girl got more of a part. A '70s hairdo and makeup doesn't work in an 1800s western dress. It just got too cheesy, and not "old movie" cheesy, just lame. But anyway, we had just watched Clint Eastwood put five bullets into a murderous drunken cowboy named Reno when we heard a faint rumble and our whole apartment seemed to heave back and forth for about 5 seconds. My first impulsive thought was that something had crashed into the building, but then I remembered the last time I'd had that thought on my mission in Lithuania, and later found out that it had been an earthquake. So I told Tamara what was going on and we wondered for a couple seconds if we should get under the table or anything, and then it stopped. It was pretty exciting, got our adrenaline running a little bit, but it was pretty minor. The center of the quake was about 40 miles from where we are, and even there it was only strong enough to rattle plates on the table. Good wake up call though! Time to beef up our emergency planning!

Football Is Upon Us!!!

2008-09-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

GO COUGARS!!! BYU has been mentioned as a dark horse potential national champion this year in some articles I have read. I'm not getting my hopes up too high for that... But I do believe that they can and WILL go undefeated this year, and upset a high-profile BCS (Bull Crap Series) team in one of the 3 biggest BCS bowl games. I say let us embarrass Ohio State, Oklahoma (sorry Beau), or USC. With Utah and TCU both ascending deeper into the Top 25 teams in the nation, the MWC is becoming a "minor conference" to be reckoned with. I dare say our little conference of "lesser teams" is better than the Big East and ACC, and at least as good as the Big-10 and Big-12 conferences. I will continue to defy anyone who says the top tier of the MWC wouldn't be able to compete at the top levels of the SEC and PAC-10. Win some, lose some, sure. But I say this without hesitation: BYU will beat any team in the nation while playing at their full potential. Bring the heat, Washington! You will need it this weekend if you want to post any points on this defense!!! Which brings us next to the NFL, which everyone knows is just not quite as fun as college football but still good for kicks, and I am discovering the joy and pain of Fantasy Football as we speak! Tonight the NFL kicks off with the Washington Redskins vs New York Giants. I have two Giants receivers (Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress) on my fantasy teams, and they are making catches all over the place but still no coveted touchdowns... Frustration! My superbowl pick this year may surprise some: Dallas Cowboys. I grew up a Cowboys hater. Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells, and any given Cowboy player was not on my love list. This year will be interesting to watch though, because quarterback Tony Romo, the unlikely new face of the Dallas Cowboys, is currently dating Jessica Simpson. That will last for maybe a few more weeks. When he dumps her or she dumps him, Tony Romo will go on a football rampage. I don't want to be the team he plays the Sunday following the nasty breakup. It's going to be ugly. Cowboys won't lose another game after that, just watch. Just watch.

Awesome Speech

2008-09-03T22:34:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin said everything she needed to, and she did it with style. I loved every word of her speech, and I think Obama and the media deserved every word of condemnation that they got. The hostility from the media and from the Obama camp just solidifies her position as the best pick McCain could've made. They are scared to death of her, and rightfully so. Conservative media is starting to compare her to Ronald Reagan. Lots of conservatives like to compare themselves to Ronald Reagan, but to get mass media to compare you to Ronald Reagan is the ultimate test. I have to agree that she is the most dynamic republican politician I know of since Reagan, democrats know it, and they are running scared because they're afraid their "Messiah" (which term began with sarcastic conservative media and was adopted by the Obama campaign) might now be put to the test. On the same note, mad props to Rudy Giuliani, who spoke before Palin. His speech was absolutely riveting. What a strong, charismatic leader he is. The biggest thing I've noticed about the Republican Convention is the attention to issues, real things. The Democratic Convention focused on how Barack met his wife, and how Hillary supporters need to vote for him. There was no why, there was no discussion of foreign policy, tax handling, economy revival, war in Iraq or elsewhere, energy independence, nothing. Just "Please vote for this guy who is going to change everything. He's a really nice guy! Look, he's got cute little girls! Please vote for him! If you liked Hillary you should still vote for him because after all he's a nice guy." Giuliani and Palin both discussed the real reasons why John McCain needs to be the next president, and that is the difference between todays democrats and todays republicans.

US Weekly Front Page (I can't believe this)

2008-09-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen the latest issue of US Weekly as you check out of the grocery store? I think nearly every single American citizen sees US Weekly at one point or another. A few weeks ago, they published an issue with Obama on the cover and the headline "Why He Loves His Wife". I guess she had had some negative press from conservative reporters. Fair enough. The picture was of him hugging her and they were both smiling happily at the camera. The US Weekly you will see at the grocery store this week features Sarah Palin in a less appealing photo that makes her look fat and scrubby. She's holding a baby in her arms out toward the camera with a sheepish looking grin on her face. The headline? "Lies, Secrets, and Scandal". US Weekly is a news journal that borders on tabloid status and legitimate news. A lot of people take it seriously for more than just gossip about Jessica Simpson's love life. This is just outrageous. I can't wait to see her stand up and speak tonight and make an absolute a$$ out of the media. I don't know how she's going to do it, but I wouldn't miss it. I am more and more convinced that she was such a good choice for John McCain. The democrats and mainstream media are doing everything they possibly can to run her out of this election because they know that they can't win with her in it. And Obama saying he has more executive experience than her because he's run a political campaign??? PLEASE!!! She's run more political campaigns than he has! She's balanced a 9 billion dollar budget in Alaska! She's put money back into the pockets of Alaskans by cutting taxes! As a mayor she revived a sleepy town in Alaska and made it into an amazing place to live! She carries an 80% approval rating as governor of the largest state in the country. Obama may have more experience in tying his shoes, but I can't think of anything else he could possibly have more experience in. And why, all of a sudden, does experience make such a big difference? Mr. 2-years in the senate HELLO???? Who is this guy to be addressing experience as an issue?? This lady who has far more experience than he does is not qualified to be vice president of the United States and this bozo thinks with his 2 completely unproductive years in the senate he is prepared to be the President???? Where does he get off?? This just gets more and more outrageous and eventually America is going to have to WAKE UP!!!!

Outrageous!

2008-09-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Is anyone as outraged as I am that for three days all anyone in the news seems able to talk about it that Sarah Palin's teenage daughter is pregnant? Is this not the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen? For the sake of public interest, I can understand that the media can and should mention it. It does make a difference, like it or not. The thing that apalls me is that Obama can hang out with terrorists and America haters on the weekends and NOBODY SAYS A D*** THING, and on the other hand, after delving as deep as they possibly can in the shortest amount of time into the personal life of Sarah Palin, they launch a brutal attack on her TEENAGE DAUGHTER. I am absolutely disgusted that the media would do something so despicable. I can only imagine the letters that will now be sent to the Palin home about her "slut" daughter, about how she failed as a mother and how she can expect to succeed as a leader of the country. I watched an interview between Katie Couric and a McCain campaign worker on CBS. Couric was asking the worker things like "Didn't the McCain campaign look into Sarah Palin's past before choosing her as running mate?" What kind of stupid question is that? The campaign worker responded with what should be the obvious answer: "Of course we looked into her past very carefully. We felt like this experience in the Palin family was a private matter and did not intend to advertise it. Now that it is a public issue, we feel that many Americans have been through this too and will be able to relate to the Palins. We do not feel that this should affect her ability to hold public office in any way." Well put. Thank you. I am so outraged by this I can barely contain myself. I wish I could just scream at all of those talking heads on TV "WHAT THE (bleep) IS WRONG WITH YOU???"

Sarah Palin for VP

2008-08-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

Great choice for VP. Not Romney like I was hoping, but she will do just as well, if not better. I like the idea of the first woman for VP versus the first "african-american" (which I'm not sure I believe 100% that he is) for president. It's too late to make this post long, I'm so tired I'm cross-eyed, but I wanted to get on the record quick and say I am now on board the McCain ship.

Hell-ary's Speech

2008-08-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

I saw Hell-ary's speech at the convention last night and it seriously ticked me off. First of all, at least half of it was just mindless chatter about herself and shamelessly, obviously setting herself up to run against McCain in 2012. How selfish and power-hungry can this woman get?? It is disgusting! And when she started putting on her show and telling her supporters to back Obama, she actually did something I haven't seen anyone in Obama's camp do: she addressed some issues. Again, since Obama hasn't addressed any specific issues I can't see her speech as anything more than positioning herself to grab power in the future, but the problem is that so many Americans get all of their "awareness" from the media: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the major providers of "unbiased news". These people who trust the media only without doing any research on their own and finding out the details on the people they admire so much are in for a disappointment when the media can no longer purposely ignore Obama's admitted ties to terrorists. The media has picked their man, and millions of uninformed voters are by default on board because of Hell-ary's fake rant. I am still optimistic that John McCain will win this race -- it all depends on who he picks as a running mate. If he picks a pro-choice clown, forget it. Half of the republican base will just not vote. Here's hoping...

Democratic Convention

2008-08-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

I just wasted an hour watching the first day of the Democratic Convention. Michelle Obama was the keynote speaker, and I guess the primary purpose of her speech was to show America that she is actually a nice lady. Sad. Well, she pulled it off. She seemed nice and actually became a real person to me. Her talk was about as deep as the whole Obama campaign though, and as the McCain camp puts it, the convention (in Denver) is "a mile high and an inch deep". There is nothing there. Mrs. Obama sure talked a lot about "change", but she sure didn't seem to have a clue about what needs to be changed. Same as any speech Obama has ever given, lots of words, but no meaning behind them. What do they think they are going to change? They talk and talk and talk about change, but they don't ever say what they intend to change! They want to give Americans more opportunity, they want to help the poor, they want to provide healthcare, they want to end the war, they say they want to do all this but they never explain one very important thing: HOW???? And if they ever do start into some kind of explanation, the response is so formulated, so "by the book", you begin to realize that the things he actually intends to try and do are no different from anything any other democrat in the past has tried and failed to do. So what exactly does he intend to change? After selecting one of the longest-running, engrained-in-the-system congressmen in our government as his running mate, he has completely contradicted his own socialist agenda. What is this guy really up to? In four years, what in our country will really be different? I have no doubt that "change" will occur, but I have every reason to believe that the change will not be for the good. I hope McCain chooses his VP wisely so that I have a campaign to believe in.

Politically Active

2008-08-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

I did something this morning that I haven't done since my mission: I went door-to-door spreading the word of God. It wasn't exactly a missionary effort this time though. California has some interesting social issues, one of them being the status of marriage. In the year 2000, California was able to vote on whether or not to allow same-sex couples to have a "traditional" marriage, and California voters shut it down, way down, like 61% to 39%, for keeping marriage between a man and a woman. In the past year or so, that decision was overturned by state legislature. In other words, millions upon millions of Californians told their lawmakers not to allow same-sex marriage, and a relatively small number of honorable representatives of the people basically gave everyone the finger and officially recognized gay marriage. Now, as the same millions and millions of Californians who shut down gay marriage in 2000 are crying "foul", there is a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would shut down gay marriage forever to be voted on in November. Of course, the honorable representatives of the people chose the words of the amendment very carefully, and it sounds something like this: "Proposition 8 -- Revokes the privilege of same-sex couples to enjoy the benefits of a traditional marriage." Makes it sound like the devil's amendment.

Anyway, about a month ago a letter was read in church services from the First Presidency about LDS responsibility to stand up for the church's position on homosexuality, and basically they said that it is every Latter-Day Saint's responsibility to do whatever they possibly can to help support the amendment and preserve families, because if this sticks in California, it won't be long before the rest of the country falls in. So this morning, I joined a group of mostly LDS volunteers who went door-to-door spreading awareness about Proposition 8 and doing surveys. Our purpose was only to explain to people exactly what it is and give them a little pamphlet to try to persuade them to vote the right way, so it wasn't really intimidating, but it was very depressing... Out of the 20 or so people I talked to (I was given a route to complete on my own, no companion) only 1 was for the amendment, and she was a little old lady around 90 years old. It was probably just an especially liberal area. But it really freaks me out how scary the world is becoming when we are starting to really have to fight for what is right, and by doing that we are seen as "bad" and "selfish". The media out here glorifies gay marriage so much, you can't open a newspaper or magazine without seeing pictures of the latest gay or lesbian couple and a whole article about how happy they are with a little extra recognition for the "pioneers" (the dirty politicians who disrespected the entire state) who made it all possible for them. It reminds me of all the scriptures that say in the last days that which is evil will be called good and that which is good will be called evil. I saw it played out in every detail today. I don't know how long we will be in this area, but if we have kids here it is going to be extremely challenging to filter all of the things they learn from school and TV and everything they will be exposed to every day. There was recently a proposition introduced to form a "gay day" holiday, like Martin Luther King day, a day off work and school to celebrate ethnic diversity and equality, except in this case to celebrate sexual diversity and equality. I can't wait to see what schools are going to teach my kids in preparation for this celebration... Almost tempting to homeschool... Almost...

Going To Tahoe!

2008-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

On September 12, Tam and I are headed to Tahoe! We've been trying to get up there all summer long, ever since we moved to California, actually. I am craving some higher elevation!!! Living at sea level has been pretty boring for me. The weather never changes, really. Its always somewhere between 65 and 80 degrees, and sunny or foggy. It hasn't rained since we moved here, unless you count fog so thick you can feel it and it covers the pavement with moisture. I miss the mountains a lot. If you look at the left side of the picture here toward the bottom of that big rock cliff you'll see a trail with a biker coming around the corner. That is the famous Flume Trail, and that biker is going to be me, and maybe even Tamara! This trail starts at about 7500 feet above sea level, slowly climbs to just over 8000, and then you've got a ten-mile dive back down to the lake, which sits just above 6000 feet, and I managed to get a "maybe" out of Tamara when I asked if she'd be interested in renting a bike and joining me for this ride. We'll have to rent a bike and take a shuttle to the trailhead (the other option being a 30-mile, 2000 foot climbing ride which if she survived she would never want to ride anything ever ever again). I'm actually very excited to see how she likes it and if its something she'd be interested in taking up and coming with me on my incredibly exciting adventures.

Anyway, we're camping for our trip on the west shore, which is quieter and less developed. The south shore is where all of the stateline casinos are, and subsequently, all of the people tend to end up there. We won't go down that way except to pass through on our way to the Flume Trail, which is on the east shore. The east shore is a lot more rugged, as the land somes straight up out of the water to the awesome trails that run on the rim high above the lake (like the Flume Trail). There are a couple of ski resorts up that way, and a few more on the south shore. We might head up that way too and see if there is some good lift-assisted mountain bike riding. In the end, of course, we intend to enjoy a few quiet hours in the sun and sand at the edge of one of the clearest crystal-blue water lakes in the world.

Embarrassing

2008-08-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Today at work I got a phone call from my operations manager. She's a pretty cool lady and we chatted a little bit before getting to the purpose of her call, which was "purely informative", I wasn't in trouble. She told me that the company I work for has a thing called a "google alert" which sends an alert-email to the department heads and upper managers in the company every time something is published publicly on the internet with the name of my company in it. The purpose is to help them keep track of what is being said about them in newspapers, online magazines, bulletins, and other internet sources of information. She explained all of this to me before mentioning that it even extends to blogs, and after my recent post regarding "Career Developments", regional vice presidents, marketing directors, operations managers, and I have no idea who else has now reviewed my blog to discover what has been said about the company I work for (notice I am not using its name -- I have no idea how sensitive it is). Oops. Good thing I just had good things to say, right? We actually had a good laugh about it over the phone... Then I went and re-read what I had wirtten. Yeah, it was all good, but of course I had to say things like "I will be in perfect position to take over this property when the present manager leaves in a year"... Embarrassing. Well, I guess now they have advance-advance notice that I am interested in the position whenever it becomes available, right? I guess you live and learn. Everybody just be careful what you say about your job on public websites. Unless you are quitting and you hate your job and want them to know how much you hated working for them, or you want to get your boss in trouble.

San Francisco Stake 80th Anniversary

2008-08-02T21:54:00.001-07:00

Our stake really knows how to celebrate an anniversary! All week long there have been tons of activities, exhibits, and guest speakers for the 80th anniversary of the stake being formed. Elder Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 apostles talked to us last night at the church. I like to hear the general authorities talk in smaller meetings like this a lot better than in general conference. As nice as it is to hear from all of them at once and get so much spiritual nourishment I feel like they are more able to behave naturally and show more personality in smaller settings. Elder Cook said some things you would probably never hear in general conference, like jokes about his bald head, and making fun of Elder Bednar and Elder Holland. But I was mostly interested in the "impressions" he finished his talk with, most especially he talked about how the Bay Area where we live actually IS a good place to raise a family, which has been a subject of debate among the saints here for a long time because it is so liberal, and some would say, so wicked. In fact, he talked a little bit about the need for a strong LDS presence and strong gospel centered families in an area that needs a spark of wholesomeness. He warned that this is an area that would quickly and easily ruin an LDS family if they did not keep the spirit in their homes, but the Lord did not want us to build a temple in Oakland so that we could all leave and go to Utah or Idaho or Arizona -- the Lord wants Saints here, but we need to rely on him. I think the same could be said for anyplace, but it rang especially true to me here and now because there really is an edge to San Francisco that I did not want to expose my family to. I feel a little more comfortable after hearing his talk.

So because of our work schedule, the only other thing we were able to participate in was the bay cruise tonight. The stake chartered a ship to take everyone who could fit on the boat on a ride around the bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and around Angel Island and Alcatraz. It was really, really awesome, and the weather was perfect! Here's some pictures.

Tamara was really self conscious because the wind was blowing her hair around like crazy. Let's get some comments on here about how cute she looks, ok?

There it is, in all its glory!

On the hillside you can see Sausalito -- this is the town I will be working in starting Thursday.

Crash/Burn

2008-07-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

So this is a picture of the car after the crash I had today. Fortunately I only broke 3 ribs and my skull was only heavily bruised. I came pretty close to permanent brain damage, but I can still do simple math. No I'm lying, this isn't a picture of the crash. I just got my bumper screwed up a little bit and my hood bent. I don't envy the guy that crashed this car... Must have been bad. This is the third accident I have had in the past two years. However, just like the last two times, its was not my fault. The first time, my beloved Ford Explorer came around a corner up Provo Canyon and swerved to avoid a construction barrel that had rolled into the middle of the road, and I rolled three times before sliding 200 yards to a stop and climbing out the sunroof. The second time a big truck labeled Orem City cut me off on the same road and as it was speeding up and I was slowing down it dropped a rock the size of a basketball on the road in front of me. My Ford Focus wasn't high enough to clear it and it tore up my transmission, muffler, catalytic converter, radiator, and various pipes and hoses worth more than the whole car. This time, I was waiting for a stinking car wash and the car in front of me being washed backed up into me! I was looking out the window ordering my car wash at the console and heard this CRUNCH, looked up, and this huge white pickup truck's bumper was sitting on my hood! I honked my horn and got out to look at the damage, and the truck took off!!! He didn't even finish his car wash, he just drove away! Idiot! I didn't get his license number, unfortunately, but I remembered some of his bumper stickers. One of them said "Proud Republican", which actually made me even more mad. If it had said something like "I Love Obama" I would have thought "figures", but the fact that he was a "Proud Republican" made me want to punch him in the face even harder. So I called the police and they came and filed the case. They're going to do an investigation and try to find the guy but I haven't got much hope. Looks like I'm out a $500 deductible.

Career Developments

2008-07-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have been working in this building for the past 3 months. It is a 29-floor high rise in San Francisco called Fox Plaza. While there, I have been mentoring under Michael Croake, who is the most respected Archstone manager on the west coast, and one of the best in the entire country. As a boss, he has been the best I have ever had by a long, long shot. One of the problems I always had with hotels and restaurants is that every general manager I have ever had has been so pompous, conceited, unprofessional, inconsiderate, you name it. I always wanted a manager I could look to as a mentor, someone I could say "I want to be a manager like him." I have had a lot of managers, and none of them have been the kind I would want to be. In fact, I almost gave up, and almost decided that the reason no one managed the way I wanted to manage/be managed was because the way I want to manage doesn't work. Sure, being nice and friendly to people is good and all, but apparently, I thought, the only management style that works is tell people to do things because you are the boss and if they have a problem with that they can find another job. That is the unfortunate reality in Provo and other parts of Utah where I have worked, and that is why I had to get out. What I have found here in California is managers who actually care about and are friendly with their employees. They understand that the best results come from employees who actually like them. Quality comes from an employee motivated by respect and a desire to receive praise for a job well done, rather than fear of a manager who will just tell them to shape up or ship out if something goes less than perfect.

Anyway, back to work developments. I have very passionate feelings about management style though because I feel frustrated that I had to leave Utah in order to find a satisfying job. All of those bosses I had that were jerks were LDS, you would have thought they would have shown a little Christlike friendliness, humility, or at least consideration for their front-line employees who are doing all the dirty work while they sit in their comfy chairs and stare at computer screens all day getting fat. Here I go again... I just wish I could have stayed in Utah close to family and mountains and skiing and biking, but after trying and trying to find a comfortable work situation, it just wasn't going to happen in Utah.

So, back to Fox Plaza. The views of San Francisco are

amazing. You can actually see right into the bay from the higher floors. Its absolutely breathtaking. So a couple weeks ago, Michael came into my office and let me know that an assistant manager position had opened up at the property in Sausalito, which is north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't interested at first because I liked working at Fox Plaza, but Michael told me it would be worth my while to check it out before deciding I didn't want to do it. So I went up there a couple days ago to interview for the position. I was not prepared for how beautiful the property was. It sits on top of a hill overlooking San Francisco Bay and Mill Valley, and is surrounded by nothing but a handful of other apartment buildings that blend right into the side of the mountain and hiking/biking trails that start at the end of the road it sits on. During the interview, I discovered that the manager, who only just started a couple weeks ago, only intends to manage the property for a year or so, and then plans on moving on. If I accept this position, I will be perfectly placed to take control of the property in one year when she leaves, and I will, if all goes well, become the youngest community manager for Archstone, ever. Michael told me after the interview that it is actually the intention of my divisional manager (who is his boss) to see me take over the property when the current manager leaves if I can handle being the assistant (which I'm sure I will). This is such a great situation for me, and I am more happy than ever with my decision to come work for this company. I was the first student that Archstone ever recruited straight out of college, and they are trying to make me the youngest community manager ever. I have no doubt that I will be able to handle it -- the training they are giving me is intense but really, really good. So even through all the fog and pollution, the sun is shining on me in San Francisco!

Batman 3 Rumors

2008-07-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

I like to keep up with movie rumors, and one that I found this morning (the link is on www.rottentomatoes.com, I'm too lazy to go find it sorry) was about the possible villains in the next Christopher Nolan directed Batman movie. They haven't officially signed him on to make it yet, but you can bet they will do whatever they can to get him, and I doubt he'd turn them down. Anyway, names keep popping up like Two-Face, Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, and some other less known bad guys, but the one that I think has the most potential to actually happen is the Riddler. Watch out, here comes the geek in me!

In the older comics and the animated series, Riddler has been an extremely smart guy who feels insulted that some people think Batman is smarter than he is. So he would do things against the law (rob banks, museums, etc) and get away with it, not because he wanted the money or anything but only to outsmart Batman. Eventually he becomes more and more gruesome in his schemes and takes people hostage, rigs a trap that will kill the person he has kidnapped, and sends Batman clues with a warning that unless Batman can solve the mystery based on the clues by a certain time, the hostage will be killed, and the blood will be on Batman's hands. Batman of course eventually outsmarts the Riddler once and for all, and has him thrown into Arkham Asylum. In more recent incarnations, Riddler has that past of psychotic crime, but is more of a "good" bad guy. He's in prison most of the time, but in return for good behavior perks, he helps the police solve mysteries, and he is good at it. So, an interesting plot for the third movie could go something like this: Give or take away the old Riddler, we don't necessarily need that back story. Batman is wanted by the police now. He's blamed for several murders that Two-Face committed, including some cops. Enter some other random Batman villain, who is committing other murders around Gotham. Edward Nygma, the man who would become the Riddler, is a detective trying to solve the murders. He's too smart to actually believe that Batman committed the murders, but he has some personal problems with Batman and steers the police in that direction anyway. This could create some interesting intrigue with Commissioner Gordon as well. Eventually, Nygma becomes so obsessed with his need to pin Batman that he falls in with whoever the side-villain becomes (Two-Face, Talia al Ghul would be very interesting, Ra's al Ghul's daughter, or Catwoman or whoever) and of course absolute chaos follows.

Ok so I feel I need to go work on my science fair project now. If I had one I would. Instead I'm going to go read the encyclopedia for a few hours.

Hamburgers For Breakfast!

2008-07-23T08:59:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning I was at work a little early. Had forgotten to take my lunch with me, and that drives Tamara crazy! So, I was sitting there working my life away when I received a text message from Tamara that read "I just ate a hamburger". I glanced at the clock. 9:30 AM. Was this a joke? I texted her back and said "Huh? For breakfast?" A moment later came the reply "Yep. I didn't even realize it was still morning until I was finished eating it." She explained later that she had gotten up out of bed, a little groggy, and gone to check and see what I had taken for lunch (which was nothing, actually). While looking through the freezer, she found a box of frozen hamburger patties, and without considering time of day, placed one in the George Foreman grill, and moments later enjoyed a thick juicy cheeseburger in her pajamas. Then she noticed the time. I told her later that accidentally having hamburgers for breakfast is like accidentally putting the milk in the cupboard. Funny the things we do when our brain is on vacation.

Question

2008-07-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, does anybody know why my paragraphs won't separate? When I am typing I put like three spaces between each paragraph, but when I post, it runs them all together, and its frustrating me.

Fun Things Happening

2008-07-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

So last night, Tamara and I went and saw The Dark Knight again, and it, of course, was not a disappointment. I seriously feel like I could go see it again tonight and be fully entertained. We saw it on a smaller screen this time, and again, I repeat, if you haven't seen it in IMAX you have not really seen this movie. Several of the scenes were filmed specifically for IMAX, and you did not get the full effect if you saw it on a regular size screen. Also confirmed, the casting of Maggie Gyllenhall was a tragedy. It was as if Bruce Wayne was chilling with some new girl and the real Rachel has mysteriously disappeared. Bummer. Katie Holmes did a knockout job compared to Maggie G. Ok, enough Batman ranting. Some of you know about my secret service thing that happened yesterday and today. I couldn't say much about it yesterday, legally, because it was top secret (sounds too cool already, huh!), but now that its over, I can tell you all about it. So I was coming to work yesterday morning, and my office is right next to the courthouse. I thought all the guys in black suits and ties were normal office workers. They were running past me though, which I thought was odd (nobody runs in SF) and then out of nowhere, gunshots. Everybody on the street was diving for cover behind trash cans and statues and fountains -- a bullet actually hit the wall about 5 feet away from my head! So I jumped behind this trash can and watched as the guys in suits, who I later discovered were secret service, exchanged fire with some drug dealer's gang on the other side of the street. As close as I am to the courthouse, I am also really close to the ghetto, so of all places in the city for this to happen, I am in the middle of it. So after a few seconds one of the secret service guys is hiding behind the same trash can as me, he goes up and takes a shot, and BOOM, he's hit in the shoulder. Can't use his arm to shoot anymore. So I'm scared out of my brains, but I know if the secret service loses this battle, I'm probably a goner anyway. So I grab the guy's gun, and the gang across the street thinks there's no threat from my direction anymore cause this guy's been hit. WRONG, I literally took my time, aimed, and BANG! totally took down this big dude with a red mohawk and a pointy beard and earrings. They hadn't noticed where I was yet, so I took a couple more shots but didn't hit anybody. By this time, SWAT teams were rolling in wearing the whole armor and helmets and machine guns and stuff. They got the situation controlled in no time. I was worried I might get cited or something for getting involved, but apparently they liked what I did! They questioned me for a while and then they took my address and stuff, saying they were going to give me some kind of civilian's bravery award or something cool like that. I still haven't heard back from them. And what really happened is this: I was at work yesterday when the secret service came in and said one of our residents is using a fake identity (probably the identity of someone important because the secret service is involved). They gave us a warrant, and asked for some documents to help bring the guy to trial. So I looked up the documents they needed, made copies and gave them to the guy. The next day (today, actually) they came in, 10 of them, wearing bullet proof vests and ready with their flashbang grenades and armed to the teeth to bring this guy down. They knocked on the door (I wasn't present, I learned this secondhand), got no response, and opened it with a key, to find the guy they were looking for in a heroin-induced deep sleep. Not quite a coma, but just about. They hauled him off and now he's in jail. I helped the secret service, but I'm not getting any medals unfortunately.

Why So Serious?

2008-07-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, lets hear it for possibly the most amazing movie ever made. My blog is turning into a movie-review blog, but since there are no good movies on the horizon until fall, this may be the last for a while. WARNING: If you haven't seen the movie yet, don't continue reading this. There will be spoilers, and trust me, you do NOT want this movie spoiled. There are so many surprise twists and turns to keep you on your toes and make you NEED to go see it again in order to get the full perspective on what happened.

Ok, SOME people may think that a comic book movie is just a goofy story about people with superpowers who dress up and save people from bad people with similar powers. Most comic movies of the past have been little more than that. See Tim Burton's Batman movies, the old Superman movies, and various attempts at other superhero movies for examples. Recently we have seen a bit more depth to our comic book movies. X-Men looks at people who are different trying to fit into a world that doesn't understand them. Spider Man faces his great power = great responsibility dilemma. I really appreciated this, and I have really enjoyed the recent wave of good, great, and the occasionally outstanding movies. I thought the upcoming Avengers movie would be the comic book movie to end all comic book movies. After seeing The Dark Knight, boy was I ever wrong. The Dark Knight basically made every other superhero movie ever made look like whimsical garbage for kids to watch in their underwear with a bowl of captain crunch on Saturday mornings. I was expecting an awesome film. I wasn't expecting a movie with as much wieght and depth as Lord of the Rings, my previous favorite of all time.

So I giggled like a baby during the opening scene that introduced the Joker (if you didn't get to see this movie in IMAX, you didn't get to see this movie at all). The dialogue was perfect. Before the movie, I attributed a large portion of the hype about Heath Ledger's acting job to the fact that the guy is dead, and of course you can't rip on a dead guy. No, he really is "that good". He made Jack Nicholson's Joker look like a lovable circus clown. He is sick, twisted, demented, wrong, evil, disturbed, and psychotic like Joker should be. The scene at the end when Batman throws him off of a roof and Joker is actually laughing hysterically as he falls will live in my mind as one of the greatest moments in cinematic history.

I missed some things in the middle section of the movie because of the Commissioner Gordon thing. I knew he wouldn't really be dead, there was no way. If he were really dead they would have made it a bigger deal, like they did with Rachel later on. But I missed some good stuff while I was thinking about that and horrified that they might actually ruin the whole franchise by making him die like that. That said, all my misgivings about Gordon from the first movie are gone. Commissioner Gordon is the awesome, commanding, dominating presence that he is supposed to be. Previous Batman movies have given him a cornball role, like he's some kind of helpless guy that can't do anything without Batman. Not anymore.

My only complaint is Maggie Gyllenhall. I hate her. I know I'm a minority member here, but I missed Katie. Not to say I loved her in the first movie, but I didn't think she was that bad, certainly far better than Maggie Gyllenhall, who can't act worth crap. The scene where Rachel is killed though, and Dent becomes deformed, was another movie scene that will be forever imprinted in my mind. Perfect. Tears were literally running down my face.

For those of you wondering, Harvey Dent IS dead, but Two-Face is not. I wasn't sure at first if he would be dead or not, because its kind of left open, but now I am certain: Two Face will be in the next Batman movie. As true to the comics as this franchise is staying, Two Face will become the mob boss that he is in the comics. They held the funeral in the end for Harvey Dent because they didn't want the public to know what he had become, and lose hope. But Two Face is still alive. Aaron Eckhart was not as strikingly deserving of an oscar as Ledger, but his portrayal was still out-of-this-world, better than I expected.

I consider the performances of Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox to be the icing on the cake that was this movie. They were more involved in this movie than the first one, and even more endearing, if that is even possible. Michael Caine was just brilliant.

And finally, Christian Bale warmed up to his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman. He was great in the first movie, but I think he was a little more natural this time around. He was more smooth, and I really felt that he IS Bruce Wayne.

To wrap things up, I was a whole mess of emotions all through this movie. Joy, terror, amusement, shock, confusion, amazement, sadness, depression, and hope were just a few of the things I felt during this brilliantly written and directed masterpiece. I can't wait to go and see it again (on a normal-size screen) and pick up all the things that I missed the first time, and just absorb it all. Aside from some truly disturbing scenes, this is a movie I could watch over and over again and never ever get tired of. I cannot say enough about how much I loved this film.

Hellboy 2

2008-07-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, back to form, no sissy chick flick reviews this time. Hellboy 2 ROCKED!!! I just want to say I loved this movie. Was it Lord of the Rings, Batman Begins, X-Men, or Kung-Fu Panda good? Not quite, but its up there pretty close. The action was non-stop, from Hellboy's first appearance (he's in a violent "disagreement" with his girlfriend), to the final explosive fight scene where Hellboy takes on the entire Golden Army with only one other dude to help him out. Guillermo Del Toro does an amazing job with the set, costumes, and wierd creatures that I don't think anyone else could have just imagined up. You look at some of these things and wonder what in the world could have inspired the imagery. Brilliant. Some of the action scenes are a little disturbing, but incredibly well scripted, none of the annoying chatter that is often passed back and forth between other comic book characters during a fight. In one scene, a guy opens up a box full of something (you don't know what) in a crowd of people, and announces that he is about to show them why humans used to be afraid of the dark, and it cuts, leaving what happens next to your imagination. For a while, anyway. I really liked that line, and several others throughout the movie I thought were just cool. But back to the disturbing stuff, I wouldn't take the kids unless you are confident they can handle some pretty intense action...

Anyway, I loved it. 4 and 1/2 out of 5!

Trip to Utah & Stuff

2008-07-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Tam and I were in Utah for the 4th of July. It was a quick trip, but it was a lot less expensive than we thought it would be. That will make it easier for us to make it home a little more often than I had originally thought, although that drive is a beast. For those of you wondering, the drive on Highway 50 is a lot more fun, but its a couple hours longer because of the roads and traffic around Lake Tahoe. I thought it was worth it, but if you are all and only about getting there, take the freeway. We had to make stops every so often for Samson. He was a pretty good traveling companion. Well, not as good as Tamara of course, but for a dog he was pretty fun to have around. We found it interesting that he preferred to curl up and sleep in my lap most of the way (I was driving) rather than on the pillow on Tamara's lap. He'd curl up on my lap and go to sleep, and slowly slide forward until he'd be just about to fall on the floor of the car, then he'd jerk awake and catch himself right before slipping off. Every time that happened we'd try and get him to go over and sleep on the pillow instead, safe and sound, but would just come straight back to me and repeat the whole cycle.

Anyway, they don't call this the Loneliest Road for nothing. We saw more cars on it than we expected, actually, but there were stretches where we'd drive 40 or 50 miles and see only one or two cars pass us the opposite direction. Its a little freaky, not the kind of drive you'd want to do in a car that is not totally dependable. There is 50, 60, 70, 100 miles between towns, and the towns are tiny little cowboy stops. Definitely more fun than the freeway, but a little bit longer.

My work took me bowling a few days ago. In conversation before the game started, people were talking about how horrible they were at bowling, and I related that I, also, was a horrible bowler, and it had been years since I had gone bowling and my score was well under 100 points (all true, I've only broken 100 points a couple times ever). We played three games, about 10 people playing on three lanes. I was second best on the first game with about 120 points, and I won the next two games at 188 points and 138 points. It was ridiculous. People thought I had been lying to them, telling them that I am horrible and then throwing four strikes in a row, six in one game alone. I made sure to tell them that next time we go bowling, I will try and get back to form (under 100 points). It was kinda fun. They say next time it will be golf though. I don't even hope to compete at that...

Note To Everyone

2008-06-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize that I had a comments filter on to prevent non-bloggers from commenting. Anyone can comment now, so go to town!

Fun Friday Night

2008-06-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to like Fridays a lot. Working in a hotel the past few years made every day feel the same -- just as likely to work on Saturday or Sunday as any other day. Having a "real weekend" for the first time (seems like) ever is actually really nice. Friday is the day you have to get to every week.

Tonight we grilled some hamburgers. Without getting too cocky, I think I'm getting almost as good as my dad at the grill. Fridays we usually have hamburgers or steak or something fun, but today was even better with the grilled pineapple we've been perfecting... Man, its awesome. I think I ate a whole half of a pineapple tonight.

Funny story: I went to rent a movie by myself while Tamara was typing up some recipes. I was wearing my Batman t-shirt, which is all black except the yellow bat symbol on the front of it -- its awesome. So as soon as I walked into Hollywood Video, I began browsing through the movies, hearing in the background "batman! batman!" but didn't really pick it out from all the other noise I was hearing for a few seconds. When I realized someone was saying "batman" I began paying a little more attention to it and looked around. A little kid, 4 or 5 years old, was pulling on his mom with one hand and pointing at me with the other saying "look mom! batman!" Then it registered in my head that I was wearing a kid's dream come true across my chest. I hid behind a rack of movies for the mom's sake. But it was funny.

We rented a movie called "Definitely, Maybe". Crap, I feel like a sentimental fool. I loved it. Oh gosh, just look at that picture, it screams "sappy, sappy, sappy". And I won't lie, it is sappy, sappy, sappy, but wow, it was really really good too. Those of you that know me well know that I hate this genre (chick flicks). I find this kind of movie to be entirely predictable. Tamara hates watching them with me because I tell her what is going to happen next, even though I have never seen it, and 90% of the time I am right. Chick flicks have zero depth, turn good actors into bad actors, and are always disgustingly cliche. Definitely Maybe caught me by surprise. If you haven't seen it, go rent it. Don't watch it with the kids, there is some adult dialogue, but it is very tastefully made and very well acted. And if you, like me, get turned off almost to the point of turning off the movie when you find out that the main character is working on Bill Clinton's '92 campaign and start saying to yourself "this is just a clinton hype movie!", DON'T TURN IT OFF!!! They fix it later :) I really think you will like it, especially if you are my mom, Amberly, Chelsea, maybe my dad, or Gary W. Bethanie won't be so interested because it doesn't involve Christian Bale or outer space.

New Coldplay CD: Viva la Vida

2008-06-22T14:15:00.001-07:00

So you Coldplay fans out there probably know by now that one of my favorite bands, Coldplay, has just released a new album. This is my review. It sucks. I'm sorry, but after 3 years of waiting for them to produce a follow-up to the very excellent X & Y album of 2005, I am very very disappointed with this collection of "songs". I am afraid Coldplay has given in to the popular European techno sound, rather than sticking to their vocal-driven, melodic rock sound that defined their last three albums. With the exception of one or two songs, the new CD is a lot louder and hardcore, not necessarily a bad thing, except the techno sound makes me nauseous. And, to make things even worse, Chris Martin doesn't even sing very much in it. Several of the songs are just mixtures of techno-noise and him making bizarre shouting noises that blend in with the crappy techno noise. His voice is what defines the band's sound, and he doesn't even use it on this CD. I was almost as disappointed with this CD as I was with X-Men 3, which was the biggest movie disappointment of my entire life. This may be the biggest music disappointment of my entire life so far.

The Canyonlands Trip I Took Before We Moved

2008-06-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

I just have some really cool pictures of Canyonlands that I need to put where people can see them because they are too amazing to be wasted on my hard drive.

My friend Gary and I found the very last camping spot in Moab on a Friday night (literally, we drove around for a long time trying to find a spot, and we got amazingly lucky) and this trail called the Portal Trail led away from the parking spot we had. It was almost sunset so we figured if we hurried we could check it out before it got dark. It led to this overlook above Moab, very impressive.

On Saturday morning we drove from Moab to the Needles district in Canyonlands. We stopped at "Newspaper Rock" and took some pictures. The petroglyphs were cooler to look at than I thought they would be. These strange pictures tell a story we can only guess at... Pretty interesting.

How about a 2000 foot drop? We hiked to the top of this cliff overlooking a valley that would eventually become Elephant Canyon, our eventual destination which ends at Druid Arch. All of the canyons here are ringed with the rock formations you can see in the backroung, straight-up pillars of rock called "Needles".

This is Gary at a cool part of the trail where the canyon we were following got so narrow that we had to squeeze through sideways in order for our packs to fit.

The trail to Druid Arch got pretty extreme in some places, so there are ladders installed to make it safer.

Blood sweat and tears finally got us to Druid Arch. We had to climb a boulder field up about 1500 foot from the canyon floor to get to this spot, which led to our next picture,

This is Elephant Canyon. The trail follows the gorge you can see down the middle until you hit the boulder field that takes you up to the open area above the gorge, and once you hit that, BOOM you have this amazing view you can look back across.

I was fortunate to survive our descent. Rather than jump the boulder field back down, we slid down this rock wall.

It was one of the more fun trips I have been on. Canyonlands is really, really amazing. If you ever get a chance, you should go. We spent one night on the trail is all, but there is enough trail in there and opportunity to explore to keep you busy for a week if you wanted.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-06-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Its been two years for Tamara and me on Tuesday! What a crazy couple of years. We started with nothing, and here we are now with a whole lot less! A car (loan), a home (loan), a college degree (not paid for), and a whole lot of great memories that we own free and clear. AND NOW, A TRIBUTE TO TAMARA THE BEAUTIFUL, WIFE AND DEAREST FRIEND OF RYAN THE MAN:

Tamara the Beautiful was conceived May 24, 1985, to two wonderful people to whom I owe an unpayable debt. She was raised her whole life in the house she was born into (I think) in Provo, Utah. When she was just a little girl, she fell madly in love with one Jonathan Taylor Thomas, a movie star of virtually zero proportions (he kinda sucked). When Tamara realized JTT would eventually become obsolete, she began to branch out and go to high school dances, where she eventually met a real man, Ryan the Man. After a roller coaster ride of a relationship, involving a lot of breaking up and dumping me all the time (you just couldn't get rid of me!), I left on my LDS mission. Two years of separation led Tamara to explore other options (without telling her intrepid warrior of God). These unfortunate JTT wannabes had wit, charm, and parents who made their beds for them, but even with all of that going for them, Tamara decided that Ryan the Man was worth waiting for (Tamara does not have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, she really did want to wait for me). When her missionary returned with honor, a brief 1-year courtship was followed by a simple (hot, sunny, sweaty) June wedding. And the rest is history!!!

I recently composed this prose for Tamara as a token of love:

"When all the stars fell from the sky,

You went and stood among them and said,

'I am more beautiful than all of you',

And it was true.

I love you Tamara! Thank you for marrying me!

And please don't kill me after you read this.

Just Saw Hulk, and... (don't worry, no spoilers)

2008-06-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hulk was actually better than I was expecting it to be. The trailers didn't really give me anything to be excited for, and Edward Norton seemed like a wierd choice to play Bruce Banner. He's always been so scrawny. But we decided to go see it because I had read some good reviews and rumors that the movie would tie into certain other movies that have or will soon come out. Turns out, Edward Norton physically took on the role of Bruce Banner very, very well. He beefed up a LOT for the movie, and had a scruffy enough look to fit the whole thing perfectly. All scenes involving the Hulk were fantastic. I actually got tingles during certain parts where Hulk screams his legendary line "Hulk SMASH!!!!" The first 3/4 of the movie was enjoyable, lots of action and drama, but its the last 20 or 30 minutes that make you tired just watching. Best of all, its not too over-the-top. I mean, it kind of is, being a comic book movie, but it does a great job not getting into the "oh brother" territory when it hangs precariously on the edge of going either way. My ONLY complaint is a big one though. Edward Norton looks great in the film, but he gives Bruce Banner absolutely zero personality. He just seems depressed the whole time. Unfortunately, it does take away a lot of what would make this a great movie, so it has to remain just 'good'. Regardless of the personality-less Bruce Banner, I left the theater giddy as a little boy because of the way they set up for the upcoming movies. You'll have to see it for yourself to find out exactly what happens, but it has really got me thinking and very, very excited about what Marvel has in store for us over the next few years. I feel like a geek to the maximum saying this, but this is another movie-dream-come-true for the little boy in me. Go see it, let me know if you like it, and go see Iron Man too. You'll be glad you did.

Saturday Morning

2008-06-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Its Saturday morning. For a little while. It feels like morning because I slept in later than I have in a really long time. I got up around 9. I can't even remember the last time I slept that late...

Saturday morning is usually my day to go mountain biking, which is my second love (my first is Tamara, and my third is Collective Soul -- spiritual things are a whole different sort of thing for you judgmental preachers screaming "what about the Book of Mormon?"). I decided to take it easy this morning though, because this whole past week I have been feeling the effects of last week's ride and I need to take an easy day.

In case you don't already know the story, I was riding in the El Corte Madera Redwood Preserve, which has 35 miles worth of trails (a lot for this area) and is only 30 minutes from where we live, above Half Moon Bay with awesome views of the ocean and some of the biggest trees you've ever seen. It was especially pretty this day because of the morning fog. Here's a picture.

I came to this bend in the trail after one of the sickest, smoothest winding downhills ever. I like how you can't even see the tops of the trees through the fog. This was at about 8 am. I was so amazed by the scenery I took this picture to capture the moment.

Ah California. So anyway, my plan was to ride from the bottom to the top and back to the bottom again. The uphill portion would be a manageable 1200 or 1500 feet. That's strenuous, but not too bad if its not too steep. Part of my loop included a cutoff trail that would take me back to my car rather than drop into a deep ravine (the long way around) that would add another 1000 feet of climbing to my ride. I had to be done by 11:00 in order to get home and meet Tamara for some plans we had made, and I was comfortably on time. When I got to my cutoff trail, though, to my surprise, there was a big "closed" sign, gates put up, and big fines promised to violators (its even patrolled occaisionally!). So I had to take the long way around, add 1000 feet of climing and 4 additional miles to my ride, and get it done quick or face the penalty of a wife who now hates my second lover (my bike) for stealing her time with me. I certainly didn't want any of that drama! I got a charlie horse on the way out, and I can't remember the last time I was so physically wasted. If I could have taken my time it wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I was pushing myself pretty hard, and today, a week later, I can still feel it. I'll be hitting the trail again next week though, don't worry.

I rode here a couple of weeks ago. This is in the Marin Headlands, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. No trees, but pretty incredible views up and down the coast. It was foggy this day too, until I got inland a little bit.

It was really cool when I got above the fog and I got incredible views of the San Francisco Bay. This is Tiburon and Angel Island. Alcatraz is just to the right, but it was still shrouded in fog.

Anyway, I am loving the biking out here, but I still miss the hardcore Utah stuff. I'll keep going back for more and more of that!

Basketball with Elders Quorum

2008-06-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

I played basketball with the elders tonight, thinking it would be good for my health, somewhat fun, and a shot in the arm of my virtually nonexistent social life. All I got was a reminder of how bad I am at basketball, and a few shots of sympathy, nearly all of which I missed. I was blessed with a body about 3 inches shorter and 50 lbs lighter than everyone else who likes basketball. Now if they could see me on a mountain bike I'd show them a thing or two!

This is the Beginning

2008-06-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

After holding out as long as possible, I have finally decided to start a blog. When things like Harry Potter, the TV show Lost, and blogging become wildly popular, I automatically resist joining everyone else wasting their time on silly things that are far below me. Now, several years after everyone else has been doing these great things for a long time, I admit I have read (and loved) every Harry Potter book (didn't really like the last one though...), finally caught up with Lost (season 4 ended very very well), and I have a blog. Other wildly popular things I am currently resisting include Hannah Montana, the TV show Dancing With The Stars, Sex and the City: The Movie, social drinking, and having children. Maybe I should just give in... I'll never know what I'm missing.

Ok, ok, so I'm joking. I hope my Mom isn't freaking out. He moves away from home for a couple months and he's already opened a BLOG what is HAPPENING TO MY SON????? That's what she's thinking.

So I'm thinking about just updating quickly on all that has happened since Tamara and I moved here from Utah. We arrived pretty late at night on April 20th, 2008. The freeways in the Bay Area are nuts, especially with all the 10-mile bridges thrown in there to cross the bay... We moved into our 1 bed 1 bath apartment which costs us about $300 per month more to rent than our 2 bed 2 bath townhome with a back yard and tons of space cost us per month to buy. And that's AFTER my corporate discount. Without the discount this little 650 square foot closet would cost us $2070/month. The job is great though, I love the benefits and the people I work with. We're about 8 miles south of San Francisco, and about 6 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The beaches here are cold and windy, but they are incredibly beautiful.

See what I mean? Quit looking at my wife like that! ... Ok, so she makes any picture look amazing.

So, we like it here. Who knows how long we will live here... Maybe months, maybe years, I guess that's part of the fun of life. Everything can change at a moment's notice. So I guess we'll see what comes of it. Stay tuned, and if you care, I'll keep you updated.