Sunday, May 21, 2006

Random randomness

So here are just a few things I've thought about posted but never did. Hope you've got a few free minutes to read through it all.

First, I always wanted to photoshop this picture after Mar drew attention to it and mentioned it looks like she's running from something horrible. Sorry, Mar, but I had to. No hard feelings, right?


And this a picture of something from a conversation we had in Moab. It still makes me laugh. "The hooves of a bear!"


So remember when I was tagged by Sloanie? Yeah, it was a while ago. But here are my responses anyway.

Four jobs you have had in your life:

Little Caesar’s Pizza. First job ever. The work sucked, but we got to eat every pizza we messed up. Which was a lot of pizza.

Heather’s Gourmet Market. Good times working with the Sloans. And I’m with Sloanie on this one, you can’t beat a hot pastrami sandwich on a baca roll. Man, that’s good eatin.

Windows West. My first non-food related job. I built blinds for windows. This is where I picked up all the Spanish I know (which is very little).

1-800 CONTACTS. Worked here from right off the mission until 5 years later. Great company to work for. Free gym (in fact, you got stuff for working out there), great cafeteria, and they even paid for the marathons I ran. Throw in a 401(k) and stock options. It was a hard place to leave.

Four movies you could watch over and over:

Braveheart. It’s funny, no matter how many times I’ve seen it, I still have to sit down and watch it every time I see it on TV. FREEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!

The Matrix. The whole scene when Neo and Trinity go back into the matrix to save Morpheus is one of the coolest sequences ever put on film.

The original Star Wars Trilogy. What can I say? It’s just a classic.

The Ring. I love scary movies, and this is my favorite. It’s funny how people either loved or hated this movie. It seriously got under my skin the first time I watched it, though. I remember dropping the Sloans off at their house after seeing it, and I drove home as fast as I could. I just kept looking into my rearview mirror expecting Samara to pop her head up in my back seat. I’ve never had a movie effect me that much – before or since.

Four places you've lived:

Sandy, UT - born and raised. I was there over the weekend and it was strange. You know the feeling of being in your grandparents’ neighborhood? How it’s sort of familiar but detached? It’s just me? Well, I got that feeling going to my parents’ house now. Strange.

Provo, UT – Lived there while going to UVSC. And I’m with Sloanie on this one – glad I don’t live there anymore.

Cedar City, UT. – I’m finishing up my master’s degree here now. Great place. Nice little town with about everything you need and without the things you don’t. Except for Costco, and the St. George Costco is just 40 mins away. I have a feeling it will be too big for my tastes soon, though.

Maryland – served a mission for my church there. The East coast is beautiful, as long as you stayed out of the city. I’d love to go back some day. If only to hike the Appellation Trail.

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch That Are Still On The Air:

Lost. Great show. Every week it seems like one question is answered and three new ones pop up.

The Simpsons. I’m like a lot of people that think the Simpsons should have been taken off the air years ago. It’s painful to watch a show slowly die. But, as a diehard fan, I still try to watch the new episodes.

Law and Order. I’m still a sucker for the crime dramas. The original L&O did it best, in my opinion.

Ummmm….the nightly news?

Four TV Shows You Love That Are Off The Air:

Arrested Development. Sad to see it gone so soon. Only three seasons and it’s cancelled. I just love how random this show is. Every character is a hypocrite and a scum bag, but I love them all.

Cartoons. All the old cartoons I’d watch after school and Saturday mornings – Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, TMNT, The Real Ghostbusters, etc.

Ren & Stimpy. In a class of its own.

Places you've been on vacation:

Hawaii. Going there in December…woohoo!

Washington state.

Moab, UT.

Mexico.

Four of your favorite foods:


Spicy Grilled Pork from Sam Hawk. About the worst thing in the world is picking up some deji while driving from Cedar to Sandy, only to get stuck in Provo traffic while the deji sits on the car seat next to you. Its aroma quickly fills the car and gently tempts you to just pull over and dig in.

Shrimp Pesto. I love about anything with shrimp in it, but noodles and pesto were made to be shrimp’s best buddies.

My dad’s BBQ’d ribs. Melt-off-the-bone good. My dad always makes a few racks so there are always tons of leftovers for rib sandwiches and stuff.

Pizza Benders from Italian Village. I don’t go there nearly often enough. I’m salivating right now just thinking of it.

Honorable mention – Orange chicken from Panda Express.

Four places you'd rather be right now:

• Up in the mountains hiking or camping.

• Cozy in bed, sleeping or playing my gameboy.

• Doing pretty much anything in Hawaii.

• Ummmm… did I mention Hawaii?

Four sites you visit daily:

• Ebaum’s world.

• Various blogs of friends.

• Finance.yahoo.com to check my stocks.

• Fark.com. It’s not news, it’s Fark.com.

Some more random pictures that make me laugh.






And a couple last thoughts. #1, you know you're bored when you start to think that going around in the middle of the night and covering up the "r" in "No shirt" on all local business's doors is a good idea. And #2, Jell-O in sprite is not as delicious as it sounds.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Havasupai 2


OK, so it's commitment time. So far I've got the following people probably coming. Let me know if I need to add or subtract you from the list...
Me
Mini
Mike
Mar
Jesse
Mel
Amber
Travis
I may have another sister coming along, too.
I figure I'd save another 1 or 2 spots just in case.

The dates I had in mind were September 13th-17th. The 13th for travel, 14th for hiking, that night through the next day and night for hanging out, 16th for hiking out, and the 17th would be driving home. I know the dates may be a problem because of school for some people, and it's certainly possible to move the trip back or forward a week if these dates are no good for someone. Again, it'll be about $60 each for the permits and camping fees.

Anyway, again let me know for sure if you're coming or not, and I'll reserve the spots Monday or Tuesday. Thanks!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Moab again


So went to Moab again with the Sloans. Last time we went there was a half marathon to run, the weather was crappy, my tent broke, and it was otherwise a mediocre camping trip. So this trip was a bit of a makeup for that.

We drove into town and things were jumping. I’ve never seen Moab that busy before. The first two hours or so were spent driving around looking for an open camping spot, but there were none to be found. We even checked the crappy little RV parks – to no avail. Finally we drove far enough up one canyon to find a sort of spot that at least had a portapotty. Using an old car rim we set up a nice little fire. Both nights were spent talking about “naked steamroller” and animals with “the hooves of a bear” and laughing our butts off.

The next day we did some hiking in Arches, notably to Delicate Arch. Here are a couple pictures from that.




Earlier on Saturday we also hiked around our campsite a little, and found some cool things. There must have been someone who put together a Native American dwellings show or something, because we found a rock house, a cave, and a kiva within 50 yards of each other. Very cool. We kicked around the idea of having a little ceremony in the kiva that night, but it never happened. Maybe later this year we’ll go back and try it out.




Anyway, it was a good trip. Thanks again, Sloans, for inviting me and my sis along.

And here’s some panoramic goodness of Delicate Arch (pops). Warning: picture is about 1.26 megs.

(And yeah, it was my first time to Delicate Arch, so I took a lot of pictures.)

Monday, May 01, 2006

Havasupai


So I called and got a little more info on Hava today - they have openings in August or September perty much whenever we want to go. Apparently they sometimes have flash floods in July/August and it's a little cooler in September. The cost is $30 per person plus $12 per person per night camping fee, plus 8% tax. Let me know who can go and when you prefer to go and I'll set it up at the end of the week or early next week. And I agree that camping for a Thursday and Friday night would be best, so Wednesday and Thursday would be getting to the site, Saturday and Sunday would be getting out. And here are a couple more info sites - here and here.