The StumpJumper

The End of An Era

2008-12-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

After returning from my thanksgiving vacation in Mesa, I found out that I had been released from my calling as Elder's Quorum teacher on Sunday. Because I wasn't told about it I'm unsure if it was because I am 31, or that it is because I've been a teacher for about the last two years. Either way, I am getting the pink slip from the single's ward.

Although I have never been fired or downsized, thankfully, I can't but help feel that emotion of abandonment. And the most poigent part of this frustration is that it just seems so arbitrary. As I scower my brain for similiar examples, I can't help think about our current president doesn't feel the same way. You work in an exciting environment and then when your time is up its enough with you, on to the next.

Although I've been quite critical of George W. Bush in many areas, weathering all criticisms remains one absolute fact. He dedicated himself to the cause of our great nation for eight years, and that deserves a certain respect, honor, and credit.

So as much as George and I will look back to the service we rendered to what we love with perhaps little appreciation, we, as I taught in my last lesson, must look forward with that perfect brightness of hope to the brighter days ahead and the new stages and phases of life.

Documenting a Migrane

2008-04-21T12:08:00.001-07:00

It's been months since I've had a good (in the bad sense) migraine -- Thankfully. Here is the play by play.

10:00 am: - The flashy started. When looking at a computer screen the light from the screen and the light from the flashy aura combine to make it darn right impossible to read anything. The flashy this time mainly only affected the left side of my viewing are, although it doesn't matter which eye I close.

11:00 am -- Flashy begins to subside. About 10:15 I took some Excedrin and it seems to now be causing some stomach discomfort.

12:00 pm -- Headache begins, although I don't feel the pain so much due to the drugs.

1:00 pm -- Drugs start to wear off and I take some Advil.

2:00 pm -- Brain function greatly is reduced, can't process complex ideas, I have to get people to explain things multiple times, and sometimes I still don't understand. I can still think on my own ok, but I can't listen at all. Also my forehead seems to be very warm.

2:30 pm - My digestion is not so great, and I now feel lethargic and somewhat apathetic.

So that's it for me today!

Moab adventures!

2008-04-15T15:40:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went to Moab. It was great, you may not notice it, but I got to canyoneer down the horizontal arch in the back of this photo! It was a great weekend and I found another guy soul mate. Now where's that girl soul mate? Oh, and only minor cuts and bruises!

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

Furtering Mate Analysis

2007-09-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

I'll probably have to change my title later, but that's OK. So while at lunch with Eric today (It seems our "Dudes Day Tuesday" has now been moved to Monday, as Eric's Parents have usurped Tuesday making it Parent's Spoil their special Eric Day Tuesday. No HARD feelings Eric.

So to celebrate the new "Dude's Day Monday" we went to Costa Vida. I knew I was going to Costa because when I woke up this morning it thought, 'I'm hungry for Costa Vida' but I had to settle for my usual mixed bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares on top of Kroger corn chex. I think I've been eating that breakfast almost everyday for the past year.

So after critizing the business practices of Costa Vida and committing my future burrito excursions to the arch rival Cafe Rio. I started to pontificating about dating philosophy. You see opposities do attract in personality traits, but four aspects do not. These criteria must meet together in intervals or the relationship is DOOMED.

::: Physical--Each of these criteria are on a ten-based scale. Five is neutral 1 is extreme low, 10 is extremely high. Physical can be looks, but it is more closely tied to fitness. Each of us has a tolerance for differing from ourself, but it is only a tolerance. Sounds like it's time for an example. If I'm an 8 when it comes to physical excersize, fitness, activity, health. I will be repulsed by a 2, tolerant by a 4 and accepting of a 6-9. The 6-9 is my interval. Any lady who falls in that interval meets the criteria.

Although I put it into analyitcal terms, everyone does this involuntary. If they don't they're going to have a problem on their hands, as they will find a severe disconnect eventually.

So the other areas are intellectual, moral, and seriousness. Now seriousness usually has a wider interval, however, if I'm very playful, I'm going to get board with someone who is a stick in the mud.

So after explaining this to Eric, he said sounds like good material for your blog. And indeed it is.

Marathon Weekend

2007-09-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

This was the Super-weekend! Friday I went to an institute party and was starting to like nice young lady when it seems her quasi boy friend showed up to whisk her away. So looks like that was snake eyes. Although Summer, Wes and I had good times later watching the U of U girls win their soccer game in OT.

Saturday I then played tennis with Eric for almost 3 hours. And although I'm proud to say I held him all four sets, our last set was the marathon game with about 8 deuces at 4-4, we later went to 12-10 in the sudden death tie-breaker game. We were both quite exhausted and had Keva's

***Keva's the the winner between Jamba. They win out on game, set, and match. They are:

Cheaper (by about a quarter)
More Selection (Don't forget the island favorites on the left side.)
Customer Service -- They're just cool there--and they always give me a large water when I request it.
More room -- They have more chairs so you can sit down and drink :) mmmm.
Closer and less traffic--to our tennis area.

Then I got a call from great Melanie Donahoo to go to Lagoon. So we had good times there.

D.C. Travel Tips -- Beware of the Tweenager!

2007-05-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well, after getting an email from my boss who is also out of down, I found what he did quite clever. Why not send people an email about your trip for your own archival (my blog) purposes. So in all my adventuring here are my top ten lessons from the trip.

10. Those Terrific Tweenagers -- Little did we know that the last weekend in April is Jr. High aka Middle school spring break here, and they're everywhere in all their energetic awkwardity.

9. Double Crosses? Those sneaky free-masons laid out D.C. in 2 crosses1. Transept: Capitol & Lincoln Memorial, Naive: White house & Jefferson Memorial--and the second Transept: is WWII memorial and Lincoln memorial, Naive: Vietnam and Korea memorials. Conspiracy or Coincidence? Next on the History Channel

8. Why walk when you can drive and walk: My parents are insistent on the efficiency of driving one mile parking and walking a half mile to taking the metro and walking a few blocks, which is fine I like to walk.

7. The Apple Store -- That was the best marking "experience" ever. They seem to whisk you into to geekhood in the most cool way ever.

6. Real Barrel Roll -- My dad and I had a blast in the somewhat real flight figheter simulators with spinning upside-down and everything -- definitely worth it!

5. Join Intramurals at GW! This is great. All the intramural teams play on the mall lawns. Softball, Ultimate, Football, although I think homeruns could really hurt someone : O (FORE!)

4. GPS Car Navigation -- If you have a car -rent one--nothing like the soft soothing voice telling you, 'exit right, right now. And my personal fav--recalcuating (you just missed your turn).

3. Pack a Jacket and Slacks for Dignitaries -- I typically error on the side of casual and I now have a new sport coat, slacks and shoes to show for it.

2. Don't trust that someone 'got your stuff' -- So we moved rooms today and while I was eating food, my mom brought my stuff down, she just didn't see my iPod on the floor by my bed, and I forgot about it until we left. Luckily it's in the safe and I get it tomorrow.

1. It's all about good politics -- It just so happens that I ran into a friend today I hadn't seen for about 7 years. It’s a great thing we were still friends because that could of made for a very awkward afternoon.

One Unlucky Guy

2006-12-17T14:51:00.001-08:00

So you may have already figured out the story, but I’ll tell it anyway. Last Saturday I decided I’d get on my good road bike and go for a good ride.

(I understand you might think I’m talking about my new Harly-Davidson that I don’t own but this next sentence will confirm the otherwise.)Perhaps by next blog I’ll have a picture of me in my oh so sexy spandex (stupid sexy Flanders!). There is a good reason that superheros wear spandex. They are

1. Confident

They are shouting from the world top, I so very confident about my body, that there isn't an inch I'm concerned about, because I'm conserned about everything, and my body isn't one of them.

2. Wind resistence

Let's be pratical here. If you're flying at Mach 100 the last thing you need is your jacket filling up with air slowing you down or even whiping you so hard it brings you to tears.

3. Durability

Seeing the superheros alteregos don't typically have high paying daytime jobs, i.e. Newspaper reporter, Newspaper photographer, you get the picture, and seeing that they fight crime, a usually very dirty job, their attire should be quite stong, and spandex streaches and doesn't tear easily.

Ok so maybe I'm not quite that confindent or helpful to the world, but the spendex does help with the wind. On with the story!

So after going for a while, I’m feeling good, my attire insecurities have dissipated and I’m well on my way to winning something. (Because I’m trying to win even when there is no one to compete with, except for myself of course).

The next thing I know I’m in Farmington (coming from bountiful) and I’m still feeling like I need some more ride. Ok, what the heck, (which I usually don’t use because heck denotes you are an un-cool Mormon--i.e. Napolean Dynamite—although he’s real cool, gosh!). I therefore decided to bike another 10 miles or so to my parents house.

I’m soon pushing hard up highway 89 when all of the sudden, CHINCK, GRIND, ARRRRRRGGHH, BLAHHHHHH, (through the pirate noise in for good measure), my entire rear deralier came through the metal beam by the spokes and up to the front derailer. I understand you might not be firmiliar with the interworkings of a bike, so I will illustrate with this dandy picture:

So need less to say, I was left pretty stranded. Luckily had my cellphone with me and I decided to call my parents to see if they could come and rescue me. They had decided to do what all good empty nesters do, they went grocery shopping together (at the health food store in Riverdale), and they said they get there as soon as they could.

So I must have been still feeling quite secure with my spandex suit, because I began to run with my bike. This was kind of fun as I was still getting my exercise time, and I was still bonding with my bike.

After running for about 15 minutes, a Honda Element pulls over about 100 yards from me.

Oh no, I thought, I’ll have to tell this Good Samaritan soul that I don’t need their help and that my parents are coming to get me. As I get closer to the crossover vehicile, a girl gets out, and she’s quite cute even.

“Would you like a ride?” she asks?

“No, I’m ok, I yell, I have family coming, but thanks so much for stopping!”

“OK!” she yells back. And gets into here good looking blue car and…..

‘Wait!’ I quickly think, ‘You are cute and nice!’ ‘I must be the biggest idiot in the world!’ But the moment had passed.

Suddenly the heavens are opened and I’m shown a vision of the last scene from Dumb and Dummer (Now would I be the dumb one or the dumber one?) when the Hawaii tropic bikini team stops to find two guys to help them put lotions on.

In the classic words, those have got to be two lucky guys. Yes, I could have easily called my parents back and let them know I was taken care of, but sometimes you aren’t ready for such things, but then you have something to write about.

So, the moral of the story is always be ready for good things to happen in your life or you just might be one unlucky guy.

My Top Ten Useful Sights

2006-12-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

10. Pandora's Box -- Easily listen to free music all day while discovering artist like the ones you like.

9. Slick Deals -- If you've talked to me, you know I love a good slick deal. Here you go. It's my homepage so I never miss a good deal.

8. Lifehacker -- Yes, I have hacking skills, but this site is about hacking to make your life cooler and easier. It's a great sight to keep you in the know about good tech stuff.

7. Engadget -- Speaking of keeping in the know about tech stuff, your one stop source tech news. True nerds need only apply.

6. iLike -- I like this site because it links you by your music tastes to other good humanoids (we're the robotic form of the humans, and only we know who we are :) ) And you can make frineds to boot! (I've always wanted to use that in a real sentance. Ok its just really good social music site.

5. Kuler -- This goes out to all my designer peeps out there. I love this site because you can steal what other people think are good colors together. I use it to get dressed every day.

4. Trulia -- I've been scouring the internet for a nice place to hang my hat and this site compiles homes from the internet.

3. Kayak -- It's the king of flight info--much better than orbits.com

2. Farecaster--Should you buy your ticket or wait? Farecaster tells you what to do.

1. Delicious -- YOU MUST USE THIS SITE!!! This site is how I've found most of the others above. It helps you find all the really helpful sites out there. So what do you want info for? Movies, searching.... ok, wow I just found a site that lets you watch movies that have fallen out of copyright. Gather round everyone lets watch it's a wonderful life. This is also a great site for wasting productive time doing productivly wasteful things.

>>>>>*:)<<<<<<

The Marriage Principle

2006-11-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

As a member of the LDS church we are taught many principles: Faith, Repentance, Obedience, Sacrifice, Thrift, and my favorites, Trustworty, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly Courtous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent. Thank you Scouting.

Well I'm by no means the perfect man, as much as any woman wished to view me as such, and I have made more than my share of mistakes. FORTUNATLY enough for me, God gave us the ability to LEARN, and just as magicial as that teachable TV remote, we too can gain knowlege and understanding, and application into principles we only had a remote chance of learning.

This leads me to the Marriage Principle. You see, until I figure out this principle, my life will be forever focused on the next great gaget, the next exotic vacation, and how to not be sitting alone watching someone else's great history.

So what does the Marriage Principle entail you ask? I don't know. If I knew it I'd probably be married. But seeing as I've been dating for 13 unlucky years, I seem to have learned a few things about getting closer to being hitched.

1. Self-less-ness --Just as you don't like selfish people, any good relationship is based on self-less acts. There are 2 types of self-less acts. The first is opening doors, commenting on how nice they look (sincerely folks!), buying them Victoria Secret underwear...wait not a good idea, nor self-less. Ok, but the second is like unto more self-lessness. This is the biggie, this is finding them in a negative state and leaving them in a positive state. These are the large emotional deposits--because they could not do what they wanted to themselves.

Another element of this self-less-ness is truly getting to know all people and seeing them as they should be seen--as a child of God. This principle is similiar to tithing--you must constantly be sowing kindness for others. Others = all others. Not the cool kids, not people in your social group, class, nor only lower classes. This does three things: 1) It gives you a larger group of friends 2) It gets 3rd person selling or testimonials from others that you are a great person. 3) It gets you better at conversations, sincerity, and kindness. 4) It has magical powers that the universe is working for you.

So these large emotional deposits are VERY DIFFICULT to make. Why, they almost always require not cool sacrifices, it could take time out of your busy Smallville watching schedule. They could cost some money, time, frustration, etc. BUT the net benefit is immense. The person usually is in dire need and you are the knight in shining armor that rescues them. Yes, guys women are looking for that knight still , but it is usually for something far, far, and away different than slaying the dragon. It could just be the company christmas party. Speaking of which....

Marriage Principle #2

Planning. I hate to plan, and if I can, I'll show up at a place right on time and figure it out. Society has changed. Women used to wait by phones for their man to call. In today's society, women are in very high social towers, and they expect that you have a pretty good plan to get them out. And believe you me, they aren't letting down their hair. Somewhere, they got together and laid out a game plan for men to get them out of their towers so they can go check out the local tourture muesem (Krimenialmuseum).

Their plan is as follows:

1. Man approaches tower too quickly---eaten by dragon
2. Man's armor is not shining -- empailed by a spear
3. Squires need not apply
4. Man calls fair maiden on Thursday, fair maiden has locked the tower and is now playing with her other fair maidens.
5. Man constructs a well made wooden ladder, and fair maiden burns it because it isn't an iron ladder.

You can see how this is going. It now doesn't matter who you are or how many dragon's you've slain, or the great knight that has taught you, without a good strategy the fair maiden will never come out, and if you do get her out, you must beware least you end up at the Krimenalmuesuem.

So what is the man to do, the only thing he can, play by their rules, when you play by the rules, you win, when you don't you can't no matter how hard you try.

So men, don that shiny armor, get you a nobel steed, and most of all devise a great strategy to get the maiden, and if you don't eventually you'll find a madien who happens to like you and your armor chinks and all.

Red Rover, Red Rover, Roll the Ranger on Over!

2006-10-29T21:44:00.000-08:00

Visiting Scofield with my father is a guarentted adventure. Although there was some debate on what and adventure is, I hold to definitions 1 and 3:

1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

So here is my lastest adventure. After spending about a quick "one" becoming three hours crawling around in rat poo, dirt, and fiberglass, we finished taping part of the heat tape to the pipes under our double-wide trailer so the pipes won't break or freeze. I'm all for the result of the work, just the work itself ranks in the top five nastiest jobs I've done.

5. Using the carwash to hose myself down after having black mud covering my entire body from mountain biking Muhler Park after the first snow fall.
4. Shoveling Fish Poop out of the bottom of our fish pond when I was 16
3. Hand sanding our deck with a hand sanding machine and blowing sawdust out of my nose for a week.
2. Cleaning dog poo of my shoe yesterday
1. Working on sewer lines on our Lake Powell boat

This only makes me realize how few nasty jobs I've really had to do. So after watching Stargate we went to bed, woke up early and hunted for an hour and then got to work seeding the ground. While seeding my father kept telling me, faster we've got to get the seed more spread out, and closer to the edge more we want to apply the seed to the fartherst sides.

Now I'm not sure if he thought through the effect of his orders, but like an obedient soldier, I complied without a second thought. Ok there were a few second thoughts.

First, I kept thinking about the king/boss/father who asked the prosective employees, how close to the edge can you drive my truck, Person 1: 6 Inches Person 2: 1 inch, Person 3: I'll stay as far from the edge as I possibly can.

So there I was close to the edge, the second thought that happened was right after a small rock covered by the snow that slightly turned the wheel. My thought was, perhaps I shouldn't go too close in case we hit a rock that swerves us off the side of the cliffs.

"Oh well," I thought, I must obey my orders.

Towards the end of the job, we were riding close to the edge and going quite fast, when BAM! We hit a snow covered rock, the stearing wheel spun to the right and the next thing we see is that we are headed straight for the side of the hill. Immediatly the Ranger lifts up and tips over. I really don't recall thinking I need to get into this safe position, but I did.

I stepped out of the ranger at the right tipping time and stood there as the rest of the ranger tipped over and I found myself in the middle of the cab somewhat trapped on all sides. I immedieatly looked to see if my dad was ok. He was fine. I was fine. In a way it was a small miracle that neither we nor the machine were injured.

That lead to the next adventure. Turing this 1,500 pound beast back on it's side. I opted for us to both shimmy it away from the hillside, but I father insisted that we could let the winch drag it away, and away it drug.

Finally as we were contemplating how to fanengle a method for the winch to get it back right side up, I suggested we try lifting it together. Tada! It worked, the machine was fine, and we were on our way to finishing the job!

The Marathon

2006-09-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

Although I did not have to run a marathon today, I think that would have been more fun. Ok I wasn't that bad, but I'm probably boarderline ADD and truly 3 hour church is all I can handle, ONLY because we get up and move around every hour.

Today I attended the Direct Sales Association's Selling 101 class. I suppose it could have been more fun, especially if--I was with someone I already knew--if I truly wanted be a better networker, and if I would have talked to the hot single Mary Kay girl. :) Anyhow, when we finally got over at 7 pm a full 11 hours of sitting! I said NO I'm not going to the networking dinner, I'm getting dinner on my own.

Dinner was postponed. For as I started to cross the street 8, 7, 6, 5, 4...I realized I had to hussle or I would be come another taxi's hood ordament. I started to run, and I kept running--I ran past my new beloved deli Cosi, I ran past boarders.

Perhaps I was inspired by Forrest Gump, ("Run Forrest! Run!") or the ancient greek Gods were speaking to me, and preparing me for Greece, or maybe I was letting out 11 hours of nuclear energy release, but I soon found myself 15 blocks away at the Lincoln Memorial. I sat down on the steps (pictured above) and though about Jenny and the way things used to be.

I must of then felt Lincoln's presence there, as I recalled infront of that divine statue what an excellent country this is, any how so many folk unknowingly try to tear it apart. But to Lincoln in Andrew Jackson's famous words, "The Union, it must be presevered." And so it must.

We truly live in perilous times. The UN received the U.S. president's words with indifference, while two facious dictators, President Victor Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, without reason or law, and calling the Kettle's black, spew lies and hate.

Revenge of the Ice Axe

2006-09-12T21:33:00.001-07:00

This evening I had the pleasure of attending the ward Food Bank service project, where I was transformed to frustrated office worker to Artic Thor, King of the Carrots. Or so perhaps I believed. Actually, our task was scooping baby carrots into ziplock bags. This task seemed simple enough, until we all realized that these 5' x 5' x 5' boxes (or boxen as I like to call them) of carrots were frozen solid.

When I arrived all seemed to be working quite enjoyably chiping away at their boxes and putting the carrots into their bags. There were two ice axes that some of the people were using to chop at the carrots. Of course when axes or any violent thing is available, I must take up arms and defet my opponent. Soon I was hacking at the carrots with full furvor (One girl was glad she got out just in time).

I don't know if it was the power that shone forth on me by this powerful new ally, or if it was my warped MBA mind, but suddenly I found myself managing the whole team. We need one axe scraper (hmmm who should that be?), two scoopers, two baggers and one counter. Soon our productivity skyrocked, the bottlenecks were widened and we were on the path to winning the whole competition. Ok, I suppose when it becomes a competition in my mind it all becomes more of a game.

I don't know what it is about me that enjoys a the competitive elements of games. I suppose it is a natural male tendency, however I seriously love to compete. Now thinking, I should harness this love into work and other worthwhile ambitions. I do believe you can have compeition but not losers necessarily. Winning and lossing is as the point of a curve of time. Once the competition is over all the pieces return back to the game bag. Only is that breif moment in time when the parties are no longer equal.

Anyhow, as soon as I was satified to our finishing first, I then became the Axe man. And I was offering my axeing expertise to the other 3 teams. After team 2 saw my skills he began to cheer me on and enthusiastically calling me The Axe Man

The best part was once it was all over it seemed that some of the people I didn't know yet were interested in getting to know Thor, The Ice Axe Man!

The Wooing Powers

2006-09-07T09:12:00.001-07:00

I just realized I came across my 5th anniversary and I thought I'd let the world in on my great secrets of wooing. You see I've been at dating for 7 years and I'm no dummy (Better Off Dead). So I've made an excellent list of what I've found as the great powers of WOOING.

Wooing Power #1 : : : The Art of Humor : : :

Although this list was to comprise a list of skills (i.e. nun-chuck, cage fighting, and drawing unicorns, oh and don't for get my computer hacking skills). Truly a man who can make a woman laugh oft and much can achieve wooing goal #1 -- The woman feels better about herself when she is with you. This fulfills one of her core desires of esteem.

Wooing Power #2 : : : Charity : : :

Charity is much more than kindness. Charity is doing something meaningful (it has to mean something--About a Boy), that they can not do for themselves. This also has to do with going above and beyond the call of duty.

Let me illustrate. There once was a girl in my life, we'll call her Heather, I liked her to begin with and we started to become friends. One Sunday evening we had a fireside, where the audio feed was in Spanish (which would have been fine by me), so they flipped it to the subtitle feed. The problem was I had forgotten to bring my glasses, and I couldn't hardly read the words. My my friend Heather realized my predicament, she read the entire fireside to me. She had made a large deposit into my emotional bank account and I was very attracted to her from then on.

So whether you have something to teach someone, fix their computer, paint their house. Doing things for people that they truly can't do for themselves is another great wooing power. Additionally, this is a powerful wooing agent for both man, woman, friend, but not child (children are charity holes never to be filled).

Wooing Power # 3 : : : The Guitar : : :

For thousands of years man has been wooing women with music. And what better Don Juan technique than through that sweet sounding stringed instrument that sings soothing sounds to the soul, as an intoxicating fragrance to the ears. OK, so that's not quite how I play. But this has been my standard wooing power for quite some time, and perhaps sparked this whole list because I think it's about time to develop some new material. Ever since I played All I Want is You by U2, the women have swooned.

Although there is a caution with this power. It can not be used too often or it's power will diminish greatly. Also, once you start steadily dating someone, beware for some it loses almost all power.

For those of you interested in learning the guitar, I've created a totally awesome indexed super guitar book (super-rad to be exact). You can find it here. (Caution Large PDF link).

Wooing Power # 4 : : : Showing Constellations

I can't vouch too much for this power, but some of the ladies seem to really enjoy a guy explaining where the stars are, but maybe it because he's so close to her and in the dark, away from everyone else?

Wooing Power #5 : : : Cooking : : :

This is probably a subcategory of charity, because if a guy doesn't really love too cook (like someone I know) this can truly show someone how much you like him or her, especially if great detail is taken into the meal as a whole, table cloth, center piece, silverware (yes utensils are a good idea), oh yeah and don't forget the food, make good/tasty food, with the extra mile side dishes.

Wooing Power #6 : : : A Well-Executed Date : : :

This is similar to cooking, but it is simply showing that you've not only made the effort to plan a good date but that everything went well in addition. Things going well doesn't mean that all went as planned, it just means that you or your date didn't get too frustrated about something that didn't go as planned. For example getting to a movie late and you having to sit behind your date cuz there are no other seats, speaking from first hand experience of course.

Wooing Power #7 : : : The Motorcycle : : :

Since I've only driven a motorcycle once, I have little to say about this one, except that surprisingly a lot of "good girls" really do like the rebel nature of James Dean and his hog. Although there is something alluring to riding around with your girl at your back.

Wooing Power #8 : : : The Zealous Worker : : :

If you read my next entry you'll get a great example of this.

It's a beautiful ski day!

2006-01-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

After a great snow storm, I made a decision. I was going skiing. After a few runs, I found that four inches of new snow does not cut it for good power skiing. So I decided to do the only thing I knew. I started to stalk the cool skiers. You know who they are, you think you have new skis all nice and parabolic. Now everyone is skiing on water skis, yes you heard me water skis. They look like there about a foot wide.

So here are the guys I followed. We went into dangeroso new territories. Perhaps beyond the final frontier. Yes, we left the ski boundries.

I'm not quite sure that I did anything wrong. I know I was taking my life into my hands (Like every time I went rollerblading down antelope).
So after going under the ropes, my day turned into blissful turns. There is something about fresh powder that you just can't get enough of. It's like cocaine, without the letdown.

Although, the down side is that the most excersize I've done in the last two weeks is turning my key ignition in my car, oh yeah and I think I got someone a drink of water.

Therfore, I had to quit about 3:30 PM. I'm still trying to recover.

But You and I, We've Been Through That

2006-01-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been surrounded by people who don't have any idea of what life is about? Who are self absorbed and only care about the next rock show they can see, and how they've been to their favorite band 29 times?

Well, last night that dream came true. These types seem to add nothing to this world and are like black spots on a canvas. These types have no idea what the meanings are behind the words the chant. And yet perhaps they are the lucky ones, never having to see such distances.

Have you ever met someone who facinated you about their life, the places they been, the things they know, their personal philosophies? Well in that same night, I met another who had been to places wonderful to tell, knew new things, valued knowledge. These are they who are the colors of the canvas, and add interest to the game of life.

If you're reading this, it's probably because you add color, so thanks. And as Mr. Dylan said, "let us not talk falsely, because the hour is getting late."

Sleep Deprived

2006-01-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

Friday night, I knew I had to go to bed early. I have recently been suffering from a sinus infection, which for me is more serious because sinus infections (sinusitis) can linger on for months for me if I'm not careful.

This was actually the first time I've been sick in almost three years. That is really a record. But for some reason because of really needing to go to bed, I didn't really want to. So I started watching T.V. Then I was watching The Road Warrior, Mel Gibson's first movie. It's quite an odd and primitive show, yet it takes place in the future when the very most valuable commodity is gasoline. After I finished that show, I found the last 30 minutes to Mad Max the sequel to The Road Warrior, (no I didn't find Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome after). Finally about 2:00 am I found another interesting show, Cold Mountain.

Cold Mountain is the story of to young people who fall in love with each other on the even the man has to go to battle during the civil war. Their romantic future life together gives them the determination to get through the horrible things they face with this bloody war. What makes this movie so compelling is the effect of this love for each other has on their character, as well as watching each have to grow and change to cope with this different and demonic world. The girl, raised as a southern belle, has to lay down much of her high society culture and pick the pitchfork and compassion and become a burden lifter. The boy learns that he can run from the fight but must stand and be brave. Although there was a slight liberal tilt to the movie, i.e. deserting the war is ok if you don't agree with the cause, and the real villain of the movie were the enforcers of the war deserters, it truly was uplifting and thought provoking.

For some (sick) reason, I like to watch movies that don't glorify violence. I like to picture myself in these times and think I'd have the courage to do what is right in the most evil of times.

The final, and most interesting side of the movie was when the couple had been apart for so long did meet up with each other; they did not run into each other's arms. They were both hanging on to each other with a thread of hope and both had some knitting to do to restore that love. They especially had difficulty loving after they had been through so much hate and violence.

I can see how this can happen as you may have so many lost hopes of love, and even broken dreams, your heart shuts out this love, and the walls are built.

And so it goes...

of iPod mirrors and buying a home

2006-01-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

So I got my iPod back today. This is my Precious IV. I still own the original my precious, but alas II and III have died. This iPod died as I attempted my first 180 while skiing, and no I didn't land it. I'm starting to think my ipod is not the perfect exercise companion. I think #2 died on a trail run down Adams Canyon.

So naturally I decided to see if I could take a picture of myself with my iPod as reflection. Let me tell you it isn't an easy thing to do, but alas, I did manage it. So here it is

Finally, I got a book on buying a home. Its' Buying a Home for Dummies the tip of the day is: Don't buy a home if you still want the option of moving around. So it looks like I'll be renting the rest of my life :(