Over numbers, unencumbered numbered words

I was just watching a mildly inappropriate movie called Four Eyed Monsters. It starts off explaining that the four eyed monsters are couples. The narrator, whos is also one of the main characters, explains how he is envious of these monsters and details their characteristics. I think a lot of the movie could have been left out. A lot of it though said important things. I wish I had a video camera. I had one at one point, but it wasn't digital, and it seems to have dissappeared in the move.

Today was the second day at the gym. I loaded up my ipod with Doboy and was on the eliptical thing for 50 minutes. I really didn't feel like I accomplished anything. I coulda kept on going for hours but Katie came over and said she had to leave. She said I should try playing with the settings to make it harder. I had my eyes closed almost the entire time and it was much more pleasant than last time. My ipod battery normally dies after 15 minutes, but it lasted the whole time.

I talked to my old boss Jeff today. I wish I had had more time to chat. Sounds like things in the town of Agawam are going well. New fish, new mayor, new hardware.

I sat around today all by myself after the gym. There's really nobody around right now. I went through my phone book looking for local people that aren't visiting New England right now and all the ones that aren't were busy. I need to make some new friends. Maybe there's some people outside the ward the are friendlier (because the ones in the ward don't seem to be). Tomorrow I am going to Elder Ryan Johnson's homecoming. It'll be awesome to see him again.

The title: Jason Mraz - You and I Both

What You Need

Over the past few days I have been on and off super sick. Fever, nausea, hallucinating. yeah, I should have gone to the hospital I'm pretty sure, but I don't have insurance yet. Mitt Romney needs to take over the country and get the whole USA some affordable insurance. the other thing I needed, some Tylenol. I was so sick I couldn't even get out of bed for some long stretches of the past few days. When I started feeling better I figured it was over and didn't go out and buy any. Now I'm at work, sick again, and I wish I had tylenol to at least kill this fever.

I went to the Gym tonight for the first time ever. Why aren't gyms filled with chubby out of shape people? It wasn't a terrible experience, in fact it was really nifty to try out some of the bajillion weight machines. The aerobic machines don't seem like they are means for someone with knee problems, or that have one leg a little shorter than the other. I think the gym would be most enjoyable blindfolded.

I leave for Florida in less than a week. I better be feeling better by then.

Going along with the new gym membership will be a diet. Katie, Lacey, and I will be starting a diet on the first (the day before I leave) and we'll be helping each other out. My job is to make people eat healthy, Katie's is to get me to the gym, and as far as I can tell Lacey's job is to motivate us to be anywhere even remotely as skinny as she is. I haven't figured out why she thinks she needs to lose any weight.

I continue to be at a loss for plans for my birthday. I plan my own birthday party every year and I'm not looking forward to turning 30, so I'll just let it pass I guess. There will be many other people's birthdays that I will have time to plan throughout the rest of the year.

The title: INXS - What You Need

We're just human, amusing and confusing

As Christmas got closer I feared that I'd be spending it alone sitting at my house here in Utah. My friend Lacey saved me, and I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams that she'd invite me to her house for Christmas. All the action there happens on Christmas Eve. They make little sacks of treats and toys for everyone that comes. Different people bring different soups. There's a Toy Soldier parade with instruments. The Twelve Days of Christmas song with giant posters and each person with their poster singing that part. They sing songs with everyone there singing a couple different words. There's a talent show! It was soooo awesome of a time, I can't even explain. Everyone there was super nice, and lots of fun. I wish I Lacey sang more, she has such an incredible voice. After most of the people left they started playing pinochle which is also a tradition. I couldn't figure it out. They even gave me a cheat sheet, but it didn't help. Maybe because I hadn't slept in forever, I'm not sure, maybe next time a pinochle game breaks out I'll try to get it again. I went to bed at 10:30 and didn't wake up until around 7:30. I slept in the most comfy bed ever. It was like sleeping on a giant pillow. Christmas morning we emptied out stockings and openned presents. Santa still found me, even though I was so far from home! The rest of the day was a lazy relaxing day. I helped make cheeseburger soup for dinner and then headed home so I could make it to work. I think the best parts of the two days were hanging out with Lacey and singing with all the little kids. The large amount of little kids was really terrific.

By the time I got home I had a killer migraine and called into work and went to sleep. Today I am feeling much better. I have presents too! My brother got me a gift card to Snowbird and my parents got me a surround sound system. I'm going to have to really learn to ski with this bent leg. I'm going to have to find something to hook this surround sound system up too as well!

One week till I leave for Florida!! Two weeks and two days till my birthday!!

The title: Jack Johnson - Never Know

It Never Rains in Southern California

Yesterday I was in California! It was my first time there, and it was pretty uneventful. I was only there a few hours, and it was dark by the time I got to Long Beach. It was also raining. I was there to pick up Sarah Vasicek. She said she's been there 5 months and it has only rained 5 times, and that was one of them. I got to see the pacific ocean, and although it was in the dark, it was still cool. In fact, accross the bay there were cool building lit up that Sarah said were ugly during the day. I didn't get any pictures because I didn't want to take my camera out in the rain. Oh, I went down a one way street in the wrong direction when we were leaving and the cops chased me back in the other direction. I went to a Jack in the Box which I had never been to and got a chocolate shake. It wasn't very good. It snowed decenly hard for the last 300 miles of the trip, up until two towns south of Orem. Why can't it snow here?!?!

Last night at work I was kinda grumpy because I was tired and hungry. I started a diet, and I hate being hungry. Diets are supposed to be permanent, not just a temporary thing to lose weight. That's why I like weight watchers. I could live on that diet. Still, I had an egg and cheese omelette as soon as I got home from work. I gotta get used to eating less, and not eating junk very often. I've done it before, I can do it again.

Just a few days till Christmas. Starting to feel pretty crummy about not having anything to give anyone. I can't even regift stuff that I moved here cause lots of it is broken. Stupid movers, broke all my stuff and took all my money.

There's no sun today, so far at least, and I'm pretty happy about that. It looks like it will precipitate, which usually means a low pressure front, which means better sleeping!

The title: Albert Hammond - It Never Rains in Southern California

Food, glorious food

Lately I've been gaining a bit of weight. Over the past few weeks I have made dozens and dozens of cookies and brownies, not to mention some impressively unhealthy meals. Yesterday I was planning on starting a diet, but was reminded of the familiar "The diet starts tomorrow" when I was invited to a birthday party at which was served a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner. The food was absolutely amazing. The birthday party was for my friend Nicole and the dinner was cooked by Lacie.

So, I looked on Craigslist and there are people offerring to transfer their Gold's Gym memberships for free (so you skip the signup fees) and you just continue to pay the monthly fee. I should be getting one tomorrow. I had to find a Gym that was decently priced and that was open 24 hours so that I can go there on my days off.

I'm still looking for something to do for Christmas. So far it looks like I might be sitting at home by myself in an empty house eating leftovers or something. Everyone is going home for Christmas, which I kind of wish I was, especially with the 2 feet of snow in Massachusetts.

My trip to California has changed to Tuesday the 18th. I should get to Long Beach around 6pm.

The title: Oliver! - Food, Glorious Food

How to save a life.

Here at work we have many interesting conversations. Right now there is a discussion going on about abortion. More specifically, whether it should be legal or not. It started between someone here who is a member of the church and someone who used to be a member. Interestingly the person who is no longer a member seems to know his stuff much better and has doctrine to back up everything he says. I know a few people who have had abortions. I do not think that people should have them. I think that there are better options. I talked to one of the people I know that had an abortion once and she said that the guilt of it has never left her. I would imagine that is a common thing. How could you not think back on what could have been if you had made other choices (no matter what the choice)? Aren't you glad your mom chose life? So then why would I think abortion should be legal? There are people that would go through with abortion anyways. At least now when someone goes in for abortion they are given the other choices. Many chose those other choices. There isn't enough saturation in the education of what the choices are to make it illegal. Imagine a 15 or 16 year old girl who discovers she is pregnant. She fears that having this baby will burden her financially for the rest of her life. If abortion is legal then she will go somewhere and be educated on adoption. If abortion were illegal then that would never happen. She may have a friend try and punch her in the stomach a bunch of times, or use a coat-hanger. This girl would then be endangering herself due to lack of knowledge of her options. The results could be still having a baby, but that is badly disfigured or handicapped, or she could even end up dying.

In 1973, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement regarding abortion, which is still applicable today:
"The Church opposes abortion and counsels its members not to submit to or perform an abortion except in the rare cases where, in the opinion of competent medical counsel, the life or good health of the mother is seriously endangered or where the pregnancy was caused by rape and produces serious emotional trauma in the mother. Even then it should be done only after counseling with the local presiding priesthood authority and after receiving divine confirmation through prayer."

The title: The Fray - How to Save a Life

I want to hug you

To all the people out there that I haven't hugged in a while:

The title: John Lee Hooker - I Want to Hug You

I don't belong here.

I went to my ward Christmas party last night and I felt really out of place. The majority of the people in my ward aren't all that friendly, or at least not to new people, and I classify myself in that category even though I've been here for months. Someone had mentioned something like this in the Amherst ward back home. So far it seems that people only do stuff in the ward that applies to their calling, and they don't ask for anyone to help who doesn't have a calling for it. I've never seen the activities committee ask for help. If people aren't on the fellowshipping committee then they don't talk to new people.

So, I do feel like Utah is the right place to be, without a doubt, i just don't want to do anything that has to do with my ward. The few times I tried to go to FHE at Jake's nobody answered the door. Not to mention that there is no spiritual content to FHE here, and it doesn't feel like a family like it did back in MA. Ward prayer, appropriately nicknamed ward stare, is kinda odd. Church itself is ok, but when the only people that talk to you are your roommates, the fellowshipping committee, and the elder's quorum presidents it's not really enjyable to be there. When I try to talk to people they run away.

I think Esther has been avoiding me for a while now. I'm not sure why, but I'm sure it's a good reason. She leaves when I am here. When I text her she rarely answers, and if she does she usually just tells me to go cook something.

I have to be at a Bishopric meeting in 10 minutes.

The title: Radiohead - Creep

I wish everyone was loved tonight, and somehow stop this endless fight.

I don't know if it's happenning where you are, but here, the world is falling apart. I'm not even talking about mine, but people's worlds, their whole lives, just all of a sudden imploding. I can't save them all, in fact, it seems I can't save any of them. So, if you see something going wrong, stop it before it does. If you see something nice you can do, then do it before it's too late.

Today I slept. I didn't even want to get out of bed. I love snow sooo much, but it wasn't worth facing the day today. I finally got out of bed around 8pm and just about the entire day was wasted. Tomorrow won't be a waste. I can't wait to go to church.

I don't want anything from anyone this year for Christmas. If you had planned on getting me something give it to someone else, cause I'm doing fine, and there's definitely other people that could use it more.

The title: Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days

The lights go out and I can't be saved

I find myself in a neverending spot of misplaced emotion. Loving the pain and ungrateful for the pleasure. Maybe I really haven't grown up. Maybe I'm stuck at 18. I never wanted to get any older. When I saw Tuck Everlasting I wanted to be "stuck" with them. It's an imperfection in my thinking that causes a lot of trouble. I am appreciative of all the kindness that has ever been given to me, especially the stuff that without any personal motive. For my shortsightedness in this lack of acknowledgment I submit my apology. An apology that in any form is inadequate.

How is it that there are those that have surpassed me in their capability to act like an adult when they are so much closer to the beginning of being an adult than I am. I guess when you act like an adult, you become one, so in that case they are leading by a long way.

The title: Coldplay - Clocks

Crazy thoughts have quick wings

A friend called me today for help, so on the 22nd I am driving to California. I know that sounds crazy, but I've never been to California and they need help.

Tonight at work has been absolutely insane busy. I love it!

The title: Jem - Save Me

When the Angels Sing

Music lately is everywhere. It's Christmas, so why wouldn't it be? I think it adds a bit of happiness to the world. I was talking to someone at work last night about how Christmas music is different from any other music, and how I wish they played it year round. He said it has something happy about it, something celebratory in mood that normal music does not have. He's not a member of the church, which I thought was interesting to note considering the comment. Although probably not meant in this way, I agree with the comment. I think that many Christmas songs celebrate the birth of Christ. It doesn't end there though. Christmas songs are a celebration of happiness, life, and charity.

In the church that I belong to we believe that when you are married you are not just married until death do you part. You are married for all of time and eternity. Maybe that plays a part in why I am still single, I'm not completely sure. I never thought of myself as picky, BUT I do know that I want to be sure that the person I marry is someone that I will love spending the rest of my life, and afterlife with. Some people should lean a little more in that direction I think. I believe that in this point in my life that if I dated someone for 6 months I would be fairly certain at that point whether I could, or would, spend the rest of my life with that person. I see people who break up and get back together over and over again and it blows my mind when they make the decision to get married. I fear. I fear with great intensity getting married some day and having it all fall apart.

I sent an email to my manager and supervisors a few says ago that I thought might ruffle some feathers. Amazingly it was well received. There are a lot of unhappy people at my job. Our computers are extremely locked down, to the point where doing our job is impeded by the security limitations we have had put on us. They had promised us shift differential when we were hired, but we have yet to see that. We do not get paid for holidays until we have worked there for 6 months. Medical benefits cannot start until at the very earliest the first day of the 4th month of employment. I know at least one person who plans on leaving soon no matter what the changes. Every person we lose makes our job harder.

I made cookies tonight. Yet again stuck at home on my night off with absolutely nothing to do at 4 in the morning. I've had a bit of a writer's block as of late, so I just figured if I sat down in front of the computer maybe the words would come out.

An amazing girl dragged me to the barber shop this week to get my hair cut. A girl who has no interest in me at all. A girl that although quite incredible appears to have low self esteem, and yet, not so low that she would have any attraction to me. I marvel at the depth of my inadequacies daily. Miranda has committed me to think only positive things of myself, but I must admit, it's one of the hardest assignments I have ever had. I think there may be others who understand this. Maybe there is someone who likes me that I have no interest in. To those ladies I offer my apology. The haircut has earned me many compliments. Whether hollow or sincere I know not.

The title: Social Distortion - When the Angles Sing

The sea is just a wetter version of the sky.

I am patiently waiting for some precipitation in the frozen form. The mountains have snow. I am pretty excited to go sledding here. people keep telling me that there are awesome places to go sledding here, and I see how that's possible with how big the hills are here and how open the terrain is. All i have is Christmas music and cold weather so far to tell me it's winter. We need snow and ice. There's no smell of fireplaces burning here. The stucco of the buildings here is unfriendly. Somehow I find the wooden faces on building of new england more friendly, even if they are now vinyl siding, it still looks like wood.

Tonight I whipped up some rice casserole which my mom used to make when I was a kid. it's nothing special - just rice, tomato paste, onions, hamburger, and cheese. The taste is pretty good, but what's better is the nostalgia. It brings back some great memories. Geoff and Kim came over to play some settlers. Kim beat us soundly while hitting on Geoff ad nauseam. Ok, not really that much, but it did make me think back to when I lived with Geoff and the girls would come over to eat my food and gawk at Geoff. For as long as I've been dating I can remember being told many times "Greg, you're the kind of guy you marry, not the kind you date." I never knew that that meant, but maybe I do now. If it's true I'm ok with it. Some day someone awesome will switch from dating mode to marriage mode and I might be in the right place at the right time to catch it.

The title: Regina Spektor - Folding Chair

Good times, bad times, you know I've had my share.

Kim stopped by last night while I was making some blueberry pie. The pie tastes great but it's the most liquidy pie I've ever made. I didn't dry the blueberries before putting them in the pie. Bad idea. Kim tried the dough for the pie crust raw and didn't like it. I told her that it was because there was no sugar in it. So, I took the leftover pie crust, rolled it in sugar and rolled it out as I rolled sugar into it. Then I threw it on a pizza stone and baked it up at the same time as the pie. It was fantastic. I will be making that again for sure.

I have a slow leak in my tire and nobody seems to have time to help me fix it. I can't even get it into VW cause they are too busy. I stopped by a tire place yesterday and after standing in the lobby waiting for someone to help me for 10 minutes I left. The VW dealership promised me that if I stop in today they will squeeze me in.

Kim is coming back over tonight and we are going to play games, or cook something, or both - who knows. Miranda has committed me to only thinking positive thoughts, so I attribute this awesomeness in part to her. I haven't seen Miranda and Trevor since... maybe Friday? Going to have to fix that soon. I want to know how Trevor's new job is going that he started this week.

AWE is coming! Yes, the All-New-England Winter Extravaganza is back again. This year it will be in Exeter New Hampshire. Trevor Smith is completely redesigning the website (because he's awesome) so look for that soon at awe.lds-institute.org. Right now you can see the info from last year.

I got my webcam out of the boxes of doom and have started video chatting on AIM, so if you're up for that some time let me know, even if it's just video from my end. I have all kinds of computer projects going on over here. I am working on setting up a windows server, although I am not sure what flavor of windows it will be running. I am working on setting up a VMware server to run my PBX on a virtual machine. Just all kinds of good stuff. You might notice that musicgreg.com points to Nuke now. I don't know if the page will ever be put up again, but I'm working on it. The server got here, but it looks pretty beat up. I am not sure if it boots yet.

I may send out Christmas cards this year. Yeah, that sounds kind of crazy, but why not. That's still just an idea, don't plan on it going into action for sure.

The title: Led Zeppelin - Good Times Bad Times

Everybody Hurts

I don't know if it's just the time of year, but I have seen a lot of down people over the past week. It brings me down a bit to see others unhappy, especially if there's nothing I can do about it. I made chicken soup tonight and I'm hoping to cheer some people up with it. If you need some chicken soup you should come get some... I made a lot.

My stuff showed up in a moving truck today. I used Budget Van Lines. DO NOT even consider using them. Not only did they say there was much more cubic footage of stuff than there was they also beat the snot out of my stuff. I have opened four boxes and every one of them has something broken in it. This stuff was pretty well packed in there. One of my friends was outside watching them unload the truck and said they were really slamming the stuff around. I'm a bit ticked off that it cost me about $2000 to move the stuff here and so much of it didn't even get here in one piece.

Kim Posner stopped by tonight with my favorite hot chocolate from Starbucks. She really rocks. During this past week she was in CT for Thanksgiving with her family. That woulda been pretty awesome! Her brother Dan is fantastic too. He's the one I got my playdough and the restoration lesson from.

The title: R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Just a few days ago was Thanksgiving and I spent mine in Richfield Utah. I was at the home of my friend Miranda's family along with her husband Trevor. I spend a whole lot of time with them and they are like family to me here. In fact, they're the closest thing I have here to family. I would not be as happy as I am now, and maybe not even be in Utah right now if it weren't for them. They took me in from the day I got here, which was pretty incredible. Before I came to Utah I knew them, and I had hung out in groups of people with them, but we weren't close or anything. This Thanksgiving I just want to say i am thankful for Miranda and Trevor Williams.

Thanksgiving in Richfield was different from my usual Thanksgiving, and I thinkt hat was a good thing. If it had been anything like Thanksgiving in MA I would have thought about what I was missing a lot. I enjoyed every minute of it though, from helping to take china out of the cabinet, to cutting down Christmas trees.

I really don't agree too much with the title of this post. This time of the year is pretty depressing. I can never get my mind off of all the people who are less fortunate than me. When I was a kid my parent's brought me to NYC during Christmas time. It was beautiful, and exciting. There was the giant tree, giant Christmas decorations, Christmas music, toy stores, and so much more. Unfortunately that was not what I remember about it. The thing I remember most was all of the homeless people. They were sleeping on vents, on corners, begging for money. New York City's last mayor did a lot to remove them from view. I don't know where they all went, but somehow I doubt he got them all jobs and places to live. So many people every year do not have a giant dinner for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. They don't have a Christmas tree, they don't sit around the fire with hot cocoa, the don't have money for presents, they don't have family to spend the holidays with, and many don't even have a place to call home. How lucky am I? How lucky are you?! If you're reading this then it is probably on a computer, which they don't have either.

I know that Christmas in name at least should be all about Christ. I don't like the commercialization of the holiday at all, BUT I know that not everyone is Christian. I think that no matter what your religion is you should be able to think of Christmas as a holiday about love. Everyone can celebrate that. Love for your family, neighbors, friends, and even people you don't know. Although charity is the pure love of Christ, you do not have to believe in him to help out those in need. Yes, there are always those who work the system, or those who are where they are by choice, but there are a lot of people who cannot help where they are. I encourage everyone this year to let everyone celebrate the holiday how they want, whether it be Christian, Jewish, or any other religion, or none at all. Love someone, because the world needs it.

The title: Andy Williams - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

This freeze-frame moment can't be wrong

There's a lot of things that I enjoy doing that I wish I was better at. One of those things is taking pictures. Since I got a digital camera several years ago I have taken a lot of pictures. Prior to owning a digital camera I had a film camera, and there's a box somewhere with a boatload of pictures in it. I never looked at them again after they were put in that box. My digital pictures on the other hand DO get looked at. I have the 10,000+ attempts to better myself at photography in a web photo gallery. I'm about 2 weeks behind right now at getting pictures up there, but if you're interested in taking a look, it will probably take you that long to sift through the 10,267 pictures. There might be a few less since I have had a handful of requests to pull pictures that I actually agreed to.

I would really like a new camera. Not one to replace my canon SD800, but to use for different circumstances. I carry my camera with me almost all the time. It comes in really handy to be able to just snap pictures whenever I need to, but the SD800 has a few shortcomings that a digital SLR does not. For example, a canon 40D. Little point and shoot cameras have shutter lag, they can only record images in jpg format, and you are limited to the lens that is built into the camera. A digital SLR doesn't have the shutter lag, they can record in several formats, including RAW, and you can buy many difference lenses for them. There's a lot more differences, but for now those are what I want. If a little point and shoot had those qualities I'd definitely be interested. Probably asking a bit much though.

I'm looking for either an online photo gallery site, or some server-side software that does some specific things. Tagging - I love how you can tag pictures on facebook. I would love if you could tag people in all of your photos on a gallery site and link them all to one thing. Labelling - it would also be excellent if you could have hidden labels for every picture that named the contents of the picture. Along with that the ability to put where the photo was taken, time of day, and even camera settings (if they could be pulled right from the jpg info that'd be even better). Captioning - as long as you are logged in there should be some very easy way to type in and save captions for photos. It'd also have to be fast, easy to upload photos, easy to customize, have the ability to turn on and off saving of photos (and right click), and I'd love if it automatically made the thumbnails. Yet again, too much to ask? Probably. If you know of anything, let me know.

The title: J Geils Band - Freeze Frame

What it's like

People ask me how I like Utah a lot. In fact, it's the first thing out of their mouth usually. So here it is. I like Utah, nah, I love Utah. I miss the trees of Massachusetts. I miss the smells, the mass pike, Costco, the diversity of restaurants, the diversity of people, my family, and the handful of friends that are still there. Things I love about Utah (in no particular order): Lots of friends here, my job, mountains, low cost rent, everything is close, the grid system, and all the Mormons. There's more, but I can't think of them right now, and it gives you a good idea anyways. The sun here is like laserbeams.

I have had some down days this week. I have no idea why. I really do love it here, and things are just going terrific, but there were many times this week that I was feeling super down. As of right now I feel terrific. I hope it stays that way!

When you're young at heart.

I have debated with myself over whether I should mention my dating here. I'm going to go ahead and do it since there are people at the town hall in Agawam reading this and they always ask me about it.

I'm going to preface the beginning of mentioning dates by giving you a little insight into how dating works here in Utah. This isn't a solid rule or anything, but it's definitely different than dating was in Massachusetts, or at least before I joined the church. This is in part because this is how the prophets have told us it should be. Anyways, here it is... Dating here has no commitment. You can go out with a different girl (or guy) every night of the week and it's accepted. Not that people don't get jealous, but we are counselled to go on dates and not to have the idea that any more are required with that person. Previous to joining the church, in Massachusetts, it was harder. If you went on a date with someone you were then locked down to that person, until you broke up. it made it pretty hard to ask someone out on a date because then you were then committed to that one person! Not that I have commitment issues, that's not what my point is. The point is that you can see it this way... Until you kiss someone, you are free to date others. I think that's a great rule.

This week I went on a date with a girl who was 18 years old. I had a fantastic time, in fact, it was one of the most fun dates I have been on in a while. I seem to have developed a reputation for dating girls that are quite a bit younger than me, and I'm not going to deny it. The fun girls either turn to unfun girls as they get older, or they get married. Of course, that isn't ALWAYS the case, but I can tell you that girls that are closer to 18 than 30 that I have dated (in general) have a few more positive points. First of all, they aren't judging on a first date whether you are the person they are going to marry. They just have fun! Second, they're usually up for something a little more exciting. Dinner and a movie are great and all, but I'm a pretty big fan of doing something a bit more active, combined with something that gives you time to talk. Third, dating is more of a priority than other things. Yes, school is important, as is your callings, and work, and whatever else you do. You've got to make time to go on a date though! If I ask you to go on a date and you say you are busy all this week and not sure if next week will be very open, BUT you assure me that you really do want to go on a date with me, then you have a problem. I could list a few other things, but those are my main points.

Lost for words.

This week, it seems, I will be going out to buy some deadbolts. One for my room, and one for my food closet in the kitchen. Cooking for people and sharing is one thing, having my stuff dissappear from my room and from my food closet is entirely another. This is war. I just don't have the money to support a whole house of people! They take my toilet paper, bread, eggs, heck - anything that isn't nailed down! If they asked I'd probably give them what they want, but what the heck! Why, oh WHY must they steal it and have me find it isn't there when I need it?!?! My next purchase after deadbolts will be a fridge, with a padlock on it. I cannot fathom just stealing from someone you live with DAILY.

Brown paper, white paper, stick it together with the tape.

In case you haven't heard of Flight of the Conchords I'd like to suggest that you check them out. There are many videos of them on youtube, but honestly I like the music that goes with the video better than the video. For those of you in the Massachusetts/Connecticut area who still listen to the radio I have great news! Radio 104 is back! It figures that my favorite radio station would return after I moved out of the area. For those of you not in the area though, don't despair! If you hit their site you can stream it over the web. Rebecca Bezzant turned me on to Andrew Bird and his song Fiery Crash has been added to my daily playlist. It seems it is too much to ask to put some lyrics for his songs on that lovely page. Don't bother googleing them, no two sites have the same lyrics, but trust me, it's worth a listen, even if the only word you can decipher is apropos.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Every year my parent's ask me for a Christmas list. It's a lot harder to come up with a list of things to ask of other people to give you than it should be. I've started an amazon wishlist, which I am not going to link to because it's too expensive. I'm going to have to come up with some way to make a list and link sites with the stuff I'd like for cheaper. Thanksgiving is next week. Just cannot believe that. It seems only yesterday that I was freaking out over the holiday season, and now, it's back again already. One great thing about Thanksgiving - Black Friday! I love going to the store in slippers and pajamas to watch the people dashing about. The emotions of stress and dissatisfaction clearly displayed on their faces as they miss out on deals and scurry from store to store trying to get in on the deals. if you want good deals you just have to watch the deal sites. Here's a few: fatwallet.com , dodtracker.com , slickdeals.net , spoofee.com , bensbargains.net . There's lots of others out there, but those are my favorites. If you know of any others that are a must-see please let me know! One of the things I love about Black Friday is that it's the first day of the year it is acceptable to play nothing but Christmas music. Thanksgiving and Christmas depress the heck out of me, but I looove Christmas music. I usually stream my own off my server, but this year I might have to just go with pandora.

Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

Men might be dumb and blind when it comes to knowing if a girl likes them (and when finding things in the refrigerator) but I think there are some unmistakable signs that a girl is not interested in you. If the lady of interest makes suggestions of girls you should date, I'd say she's not interested. Maybe it's just me, but if I liked a girl I would not suggest guys for her to date (other than me) at least I can't think of a reason why I would. If the female in question is cuddled up to some guy she has only just met, and not you, there's a good chance she's not interested in you. Even if she's already agreed to go on a date with you, if she would prefer to cuddle with a complete stranger wouldn't you think that she just agreed to a date out of pity for you or something? If the cutie you are desiring cannot fit you into her schedule over a two week period she's probably not interested. Unless she's going out of town or is being locked away in a room somewhere for two weeks I can't see why someone couldn't at least find one hour to spend some time with you if they WANT to get to know you. If the lass in question verbally abuses the heck out of you no matter how nice you are you might want to look elsewhere. Obvious? Maybe not as much as you'd think.

Now guys aren't good at picking up hints, AT ALL. In case you ladies didn't notice, a whole lot of guys would rather you just clubbed them over the head and told them what you are thinking than hint at stuff. Even then, sometimes guys don't get it...

BTW, the thesaurus entries for female and girl are good for a chuckle.

Money (That's What I Want)

Yesterday a moving company picked up my stuff from my parent's house. The original estimate was $900, but now it's looking like $1635. I have no idea where I am going to come up with an extra $700 in a week. I am definitely going to measure it when it gets here though cause there's no way that my dad could have measured the stuff at half the size they say it is. Monetarily things were going well till this point. I am still waiting for a re-evaluation of my pay at work because I was hired at the bottom of the pay scale (when they told me I was being hired at the TOP). It seems Convergys is known among their employees for shady money dealings when it comes to pay.

Where in the world is Greg Weld?

Maybe someone I haven't talked to in a long time will stumble upon this and wonder what I have been up to. Maybe someone I haven't talked to in 3 months will find me on here. Either way, there's a good chance it's different from the last time we were in contact.

So, what AM I up to?
I am currently living in Orem, UT. I moved here in August. You're probably wondering how I got here, and sometimes I do too. The first part of that explanation is that I am a Mormon, I am LDS, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that you are wondering what that has to do with anything. Just under 5 years ago I joined the church and since then it has influenced the direction that my life has taken. As a member of the church, one of the things we can take advantage of is getting a Patriarchal Blessing. This is given by someone that you very often don't know, or don't know very well. There is one designated person for a certain geographical area that gives these. When i got my blessing I was pretty blown away how dead on it was in describing the person that I am. Almost everyone I have asked about theirs says the same thing. In part of this blessing, which to members of the church is often thought of as person scripture, it is said that I will live in an area where the church is very strong and that is centrally located among educational facilities ...or something close to that. Orem Utah really descibes that well, and there was a pretty huge series of events that lines up perfectly to get me here. In fact, as far back as I think about that chain, I think of things that caused those things, and so on, to the point where I cannot think of where the chain of events began. Looking at the whole picture, it just seems like this is where I was destined to be.

Now that you know where I am, and how I got here, or at least sort of how I got here, let me tell you what I am up to. I have aquired a job working at Convergys for NetApp. Convergys runs callcenters, lots of them. I'm not in your average callcenter. I do mostly outbound calls. Not telemarketing (thank goodness!!), but calls to people who email me first. I'm working 3rd shift, which to those of you who do not know, is overnight (graveyard shift). I really like my job! I help lots of customers, and more than that, I help lots of other techs. We're actually called TSEs which stands for Technical Support Engineers. I don't consider us engineers, at least not in the way that some of my friends are engineers. I got this job because I saw it posted at UVSC, which I was attending when I got here. I ended up dropping my classes to take the job. Just another link in the chain of what got me where I am at.

Here comes little naked me

The title of this entry has a lot of meaning to it. First of all, I'm a helper, a saver, go-to guy, that person you call when you're in trouble. That's one way I interpret the lyrics in the song it is from. I don't listen to Ani Difranco, but sometimes her lyrics say things pretty well, even if i don't like the sound of her voice/music. Second this is a blog, secondary to my actual written journal. The difference? People *might* actually read this, whereas I doubt that, and partially hope that, nobody will ever read anything I thought to write down on paper. It's possible that things written here might show more than I show of myself normally - the naked me - uncovered, and blindingly ugly at times.