Dreaming in red, white, and blue

Today for church I wore my tie with an american flag on it in honor of Memorial Day. Someone commented to me that I was a bit early for the 4th of July. I have been thinking about that all day. I imagine there are uncountable Americans who have no idea what the meaning is behind their long weekend. If you read this, take note, it is a day to remember all the men and women who have died in service of the US military. At 3pm Eastern time much of the country will participate in a moment of silence. I suggest you take this time to think about what these people have done for you and where the US would be without people to fight for our freedom.

I was supposed to go camping this weekend, but the campground cancelled our reservation due to snow. Instead I went to a cookout at Tom and Kari's house in Sandy. There wasn't very many of us there, but we had a good time eating food and playing wiffle ball.

The title: Brooks and Dunn - Only in America

Mother should I trust the government?

Happy Mother's day! Today I got to talk to my mom, and my dad's mom (My grandma). I got to talk to Sister Beynon, and I sent texts to lots of other mom's telling them happy mother's day :) Moms are pretty awesome. I wouldn't be here without one, and neither would you!

This week I "got" my State tax return. It was a letter from the IRS that said they had decided to levy my return for $50 with a $25 administrative fee which left exactly $0 left.

Saturday was a pretty busy day! When I woke up I headed to the store to get some vegetables. Then I made some vegetable shishkabobs. Tom Lane came over at 5 and we ate grilled veggies and meat that I had marinated. After that we went to Carina Hatch's wedding reception. It was terrific to see Carina. She looked more fantastic than ever. I am now really super behind at getting all my pics onto my photo gallery. The food at the reception was from Kneader's and was fantastic. The best food were two desserts. One was a little chocolate bowl with mousse, whipped cream, and topped with a chocolate covered cherry. The other was a little key lime pie with e teeny slice of lime in it. Exceptionally tasty. After the wedding reception I dropped off Tom and headed to a bonfire planned by my friend Bruce. I was eating s'mores there hehe. That woulda been enough, but I went to Miranda and Trevor's after and hung out for a while.

Tonight at work we are having a barbecue around 3am. I brought a lot of meat that is marinated in my home-made barbecue sauces, one made from mango, one from pineapple.

The title: Pink Floyd - Mother

This is a land of confusion.

Some of my friends clarified my maybe invite to a concert. This is Utah, people get married in under 3 months. Yeah, they're right.

So, I have 4 tickets to see Jack Johnson in August. Probably about 2 weeks before the concert I'll try to track down some people that want to go, and if I ask you and you already have something planned that you can't get out of, then you just don't want to go bad enough.

Over the past week I had a spectacular dinner at Tucanos, got a box of cookies from my friend Dana in MA, went climbing at Momentum till I couldn't use my arms, worked out with my trainer, went on a long bike ride up a mountain. I'm sure there was more, but I forget what happened this week.

I saw a posting on www.lifehacker.com about hacked firmware that you can run on canon cameras to add a bunch of functionality. I can now take pictures in RAW, which rocks. Lots of other features too.

The title: Genesis - Land of Confusion

It seems to me that maybe pretty much always means no

Yesterday I asked someone to go to a concert and they said maybe. It is in August, which is pretty far away. I thought that if I asked people if they wanted to go that I should give them enough notice that they wouldn't have anything planned. So, if someone tells you maybe on something so far away, how long do you wait before you find someone else to go? I had not anticipated an answer of maybe, only yes or no, thereby giving me time to find someone else that wants to go if they said no.

I have found that people can now find me many more places if I am online now. Previously, if I did not get on AIM they had no way to send me a message. Now if I get on gmail or facebook I have messages popping up from people. I think it is a cool feature to be able to message people that are currently using the same webpage that you are, but sometimes not wanted.

The title: Jack Johnson - Flake

Get out your seats and jump around

This past week the Beynons were visiting from Massachusetts. I got to spend all of Wednesday with Nate and Sarah. it was a super excellent day. We ate Breakfast at Bro Beynon's mom's house, then went to temple square for a few hours, then lunch with Rhonda Stratton, then to Momentum (climbing gym in Sandy), on to Jump On It, and then to Sis Beynon's sister's house for dinner. I got to meet a girl who I think was the Beynon's niece who was pretty awesome. She just got back from a mission.

Thursday I went to Sarah Vasicek's wedding luncheon, and then wedding. She married a dude named Mykle who is pretty great. I'm really happy for them! Friday night I DJ'd their reception which was pretty sweet. I have lots of pics to post. There was a cake face smear muahaha.

Work has been totally insane. Around 3am every morning the calls start rolling in nonstop. I really hope we get some people for the overnight shift soon. Everyone loves working for NetApp, it's just that they keep finding better paying jobs and leaving. I guess I can't blame them.

I got an email from someone today, one that I have gotten from other people. It says that Obama is Muslim and that Muslims are evil. Ugh, if you get that email please note that Obama has gone to a Christian church for 20 years. Also keep in mind that a person's religion doesn't make them inherently evil. Having said that, Obama's pastor freaks me out with his hate for America and white people. I don't see how you can attend church for 20 years and not share similar beliefs. If you're going to judge him, at least judge him on something factual hehe.

I have tooootally been slacking at my gym attendance. I've been at least going to Momentum a bit, but once a week at Gold's is crap. I'm back to fully operational and should get back on schedule.

If anyone is looking for used laptops now is the time to hit craigslist. There's a flood of students getting rid of them cheap. Heck, they're getting rid of all kinds of stuff cheap. We need a dining room table here, so I'm on the lookout.

It looks like Spring is finally here. I hope it doesn't snow anymore. It keeps warming up to 70+ and then snowing the next day. The people say that is normal for here. Crazy Utah.

The title: House of Pain - Jump Around

Slow down everyone you're moving too fast

Saturday was my day off. I hung around the house in the morning, unable to sleep. At 1pm I met up with the Beynons who are in Utah for a little bit. We grabbed some tasty frozen treats at the Malt Shop in Provo. Bro B was sporting some glasses. Nate is bigger and Sarah is gigantic! Laura and Cynthia haven't changed at all. I'm glad something stays the same. After attempting to finish off out brain freeze inducing sugary dairy products we headed to Utah Valley hospital. Elder Bolli is not doing so well. He has gone into a coma several times in the past week. On the positive side though, they believe it was caused by his insulin alternative stuff causing a rise in amonia in his blood. The bad news is that between his bad heart, replaced kidney, cirrosis of the liver, and diabetes he's not doing so hot. He is pretty skinny. I got a pic of Elder and Sister Bolli lookin good though. It was terrific to see them. I wish I could give them more time. I wish we all had more time.

Wednesday I am taking Sarah Beynon to have some fun. We'll be hitting temple square, then Momentum (the climbing gym), then Jump On It. There will be food in there too.

Soon I will be seeing a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while I think. You always see them at funerals and weddings. There's a bunch of weddings coming up in the next few months. Hopefully there won't be any funerals any time soon.

The title: Jack Johnson - Inaudible Melodies

Has it ever felt like this

I was just watching October Road which is a show based in a fictional town in Massachusetts. I have all the episodes, and I am watching it from the beginning in my spare time. It brings back so many memories from growing up. I was thinking about the times in Otis that a bunch of us would sit in my parent's trailer playing cards on a rainy day listening to Poison. My mom used to love Poison (and Motley Crue, Warrant, other hairbands). I'm not sure she still does because when I was last home there was always country music on. Growing up though, it was usually 107.3 WAAF. The station has changed a lot since then. Me, Patrick, Adam, Barbie, Jeff, Lisa, Ben, JR, and sometimes other kids would sit on the beach and listen to the radio. I had a wooden case that had all the CD's I owned in it. We were allowed to plug in under the house on the beach cause we were seasonal there. I sometimes wish that life could have stayed the way I remember it then.

Before Otis I remember JP, Derek, Brian, Kristin, and the other kids on Barry Street. We did crazy stuff like building treeforts and rope swings. We went fishing for largemouth bass on the golfcourse. We trekked for miles through the woods and swamps behind our houses. I used to fear getting beat up at school back then, and from some of the older kids on Barry Street too. I can't look back on it in any other way than to think that life was good back then too.

Some time after Otis it transitioned to the people from my store, and then to the people that worked at RCN. I don't think I have changed much since as far back as I can remember, but my life sure has. I'm sorry for all those people that I've left behind. I miss you all. I'm still not sure why I'm here in Utah, but I sincerely hope that someday I will look back on it and it will be a fond memory just like all the other time periods I've had.

For the past several weeks, maybe even a month, I've been drained of all energy. It started a few days after I gave blood and I just started getting my energy back on Wednesday last week. On Saturday I went skiing for 6 1/2 hours without sunscreen. I then spent several days in bed because my face was so burnt that my face swelled up and I couldn't see. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will be back to the gym and the climbing gym.

Two days ago it was 87 degrees outside. Terrible timing for good sunny weather when your face is burnt to a crisp. Yesterday it snowed. The weather here is totally insane.

The title: Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn