Deep roots are not touched by the frost...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun...

2010-07-26T22:47:00.013-06:00

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Today Nicole and I have been married for 7 years (the 2002 picture is when we were first dating). Sometimes it seems like only yesterday, and sometimes I have a hard time remembering what life was actually like before Nicole. Either way, the constant thing is that it's been the best 7 years of my life. I'm sure most people who knew us separately before we met were scratching their heads and wondering how two people so apparently different could date, let alone get married. But the end result is something that perhaps neither of us imagined. Life with Nicole has opened my eyes to a lot of world previously beyond my horizon. She's been a constant source of stability (something which I didn't have a lot of pre-Nicole) and comfort. She encourages (forces?) me to really think about things I never gave a lot of thought to, and not to just think something because somebody (anybody) else does. I could go on and on about why I love her, but perhaps most of all I love her because she loves me, not just for who I am, but for who I have the potential to be.

Well, that was new and exciting...

2010-06-22T23:51:00.006-06:00

Today, at about 6:40, I experienced something completely new. I was riding my bike on State road 77 (4000 S) west toward where the road curves south to go into Lake Shore and Benjamin. (the A is pretty close to where I was)

Before I get into the new experience of the day, let me give a little background. This is a road cycling haven. Long, flat, straight roads with little traffic. Last Saturday I rode out this road to West Mountain and had an incredible day. The few cars overtaking me were moving all the way to the other side of the road to give me plenty of room. Farmers waved hello from their tractors. I saw several other cyclists, real roadies who greeted me with a cheerful, one-hand-off-the-handlebar wave, and I felt like I had finally found the ladder to the secret clubhouse. It's a perfect place to start increasing the mileage on my endurance rides.

Today, it was not so perfect. A faded red, mid-to-late 80's Ford F-series with a silver/chrome strip down the side (I think that was the Lariat trim model) drove by me, heading east. I saw a dark object flying toward me and ducked my head instinctively. After (a non-trivial) impact, I briefly wondered how that big of a rock had gotten up on the road and thrown up by the truck. Then I saw the object, which had bounced off my head and was still in the air headed toward the cat-tails growing out of the ditch on the other side of the road, silhouetted against the sky. It was a largish (probably 32 oz.) bottle of water. I immediately stopped, but the truck was too far away to make out the license plate. Then I thought to take off my helmet and have a look.

To be clear, I'm okay. I've had a bit of a headache this evening, but I'm fine. But I was extremely lucky. If it had hit me anywhere other than the head (where my helmet earned its $100 by bouncing it clean off) or hit my bike, I would have been doing a 20 mph tumble on rough asphalt. Not to mention the injury the bottle would have done to me if it hit anywhere other than my helmet.

So now I have to buy a new helmet. And, for Nicole's peace of mind, I have to find someplace else to stretch out the miles when I go for a ride. (Provo Canyon is a great place to ride, but that's a pretty steep hill to go riding up for 20 miles, let alone the downhill trip on a fixed-gear...)

I know that nobody reading this blog is likely to be the kind of person who'd throw something out a truck going 45 mph at a cyclist. But everyone can help. You can help people start seeing cyclists. You can watch for instances of illegal and belligerent behavior toward cyclists and report them. Since it seems clear that some people will not use the brains God gave them, the rest of us have to pick up the slack, and it really needs to be sooner than later.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T01:03:00.005-07:00

Disclaimer: I'm in no condition to go anywhere to take pictures of fireworks, so I'm using some from the 4th of July last summer.

The daytime of the night.

2009-08-29T23:05:00.008-06:00

I've spent a lot of time outdoors in the nighttime. I've driven a lot of miles in the middle of the night with the moon so bright that sometimes I've just turned off my headlights (when there weren't other cars around) and driven by moonlight. I've always enjoyed hiking by moonlight, and I've been quite surprised by how well you can see, and how much you can see, by the light of the moon and stars. So a couple months ago when I was looking at the dates for our trip to Hawaii I was quite pleased to see that the full moon would occur during our trip. So I spent a few nights wandering around the resort and the beach with my camera and tripod. Here's some of the cool stuff you can see in the middle of the night at the Marriott's Maui Ocean Club.

the view of the pool from our balcony

palm trees leaning out over the beach, lit by tiki torches

a little farther away from the torches

hiding the moon to see the stars

amazing how much color you can see in the dark if you look long enough

the beach melting into the ocean

looking down the beach toward Lahaina

tiki torches + long exposure time = pretty cool

pretty cool how far stars move in 20 seconds

a little time lapse of the moon rising

Hawaii Highlights

2009-08-28T21:58:00.006-06:00

I like Hawaii. A lot. Although I don't surf or boogeyboard, and I'm not a super-great swimmer, I _love_ the ocean. And it just so happens that Hawaii is smack dab in the middle of a great big, blue ocean. Very blue. I have always loved spending time outdoors. Having grown up partly in the South while my dad was in the Army, and partly in the desert and the mountains in and around Orderville, I have a little bit of a schizophrenic ecological preference. I like swamps. I like forests. I like deserts. I like mountains. And awesome-ly, Hawaii has all of that. And jungles, which I didn't grow up with, but which are quite cool nonetheless. I remember not quite knowing what to expect the first time we went, in 2003. Driving across the desert side of the island to the western side of Maui, you see a lot of brown grass, scrubby bushes and lava rocks. Sound familiar? Yup. Looks just like home. Only with an ocean. So now that we've established that I like Maui, here are some highlights:

sunset over the ocean. from my seat at dinner. yup. love that Lahaina Fish Company.

the daytime of the night. at the resort.

for some reason I like taking pictures at night.

not quite sunset from the boat.

closer to sunset. still on the boat.

apparently I like sunset pictures.

bridge on the road to Hana.

Wai'anapanapa. near Hana.

waterfall by a bridge on the road to Hana.

sunset at the resort.

the edge of a very hard seat. on a canoe.

patterns in the sand. Lahaina.

Me and the people.

2009-07-12T19:41:00.008-06:00

Nicole reminded me after my last post that there were no pictures of me (or us, or me and the kids) in it. Which is not surprising, since all of those pictures came from my camera. So here's some pictures of with me in them from our trip to Newport Beach. And the ocean. And Disneyland. :) (These were all taken by Natalie or Nicole)

Me

Me and Nicole

Me and Ethan

Me and Chelsea

Me and Jayden

Gang pictures

Newport Beach trip 2009

2009-07-10T22:24:00.013-06:00

So I'm finally getting around to documenting our trip to Newport last month. To begin with, an amusing photgraphic anecdote:

Nicole's shoes for the trip (she would like you to know she's not crazy):
My shoes for the trip:

The night we got down there had one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. After rushing back from taking the kids to the pool, I grabbed the tripod and took a few pictures:

Our first day at Disneyland, I was the designated water carrier so I didn't take my D60. Therefore, I only took like 3 pictures with our little point & shoot. But look how pretty I am... :p

Tuesday we went to Laguna Beach for a while in the morning and hung out at the pool and condo in the afternoon.

The next day was our Downtown Disney day, as well as Ruby's on Balboa Pier for some tasty burgers.

Thursday I left my Camelbak at home and took my D60 to Disneyland. As Nicole has said many times, one of the coolest things about Disneyland is the attention to detail. There's a lot packed into a relatively small area and it all, down to the last chair, is meant to add to the completeness of the park. Here's just a few of my favorites from Disneyland.

Friday was another mellow day at the condo and the pool. The grounds at the Marriott's Newport Coast Villas are fairly well suited for the whole Tuscan theme.

As is customary, we stopped in Baker on the way home for a gyro (for me--everyone else eats somewhere else). Here's a few pictures of the Halloran Desert, south of Death Valley.

We got back to St. George just in time for dinner and the sunset.

Wiser words...

2009-07-07T23:44:00.005-06:00

My dad once gathered my brother and me up, and said he was going to tell us the secret to success. His next words were, "Win if you can, lose if you must, but no matter what happens always cheat." My mom yelled at him from the kitchen of the trailer we were living in, and I figured I had it made. Since that day (I think I was 11) I've evolved through varied definitions of the term "cheat". Occasionally in my younger years, "cheat" meant do whatever it took to win/get ahead. In the Disney film The Sword In The Stone, the wizard Merlin defines cheating as using magic: "Every last trick in the trade, if I have to." He doesn't do anything dishonest, even when Madam Mim turns into a purple dragon (the dishonest form of cheating), merely thinks very creatively. When I realized that honesty and integrity were important to me, my definition of "cheat" took a turn in this direction.

I've had some fairly proud "cheat" moments in my life, though only a couple stand out as the years go by. One was in my last job, where 16 alligator clips, 2 ethernet cable ends, 2 pieces of foam, and some very creative soldering became what we called the "superhack" and allowed us to verify that 1200 feet of CAT 6 ethernet cable were still useful and didn't need to be thrown away.

The most recent was on our return from Newport Beach, where I discovered that my fine Swiss watch is water resistant but not steam resistant. On getting the watch back from the store where it had been dried out, I discovered that the date was wrong. Whereupon I discovered that the knob setting that allows turning the date forward was not working. No worries, I could just turn the hands (that still worked) forward and the date would go forward that way. Whereupon I discovered a problem. It takes roughly 3 spins of the little knob to turn the hour hand 360 degrees (12 hours). It was July 1. The date according to my watch was the 9th. Faced with the prospect of roughly 132 spins of that tiny little knob, I improvised. With a little dose of awesome. Enjoy.

The Thing That Should Not Be

2009-06-18T00:54:00.003-06:00

(other than the fact that I'm still awake right now)

Any of you who follow me on Twitter, or read the Facebook status updates that are piped there from Twitter know I've been somewhat actively following the situation in Iran. For those of you not following as closely, here's a brief (not in any way guaranteed to be accurate) synopsis:

1. Friday, June 12: Iran holds their election to determine a new president, with 85% of the population turning out to vote (with some precincts reporting more bodies than registered voters). Less than 2 hours after the polls close, Supreme Leader Khamenei declares Ahmadinejad the winner 63% to 35% (roughly). This despite the fact that all of their ballots are paper. This despite the fact that previous elections have taken days to tally and have resulted in a runoff between the 2 candidates with the highest number of votes. This includes the fact that Mousavi apparently lost IN HIS HOME CITY. Strange, no?

2. Saturday, June 13: Mousavi and the other "reformist" candidates declare the election a fraud and demand not just a recount, but a new election. Protests begin in the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities.

3. Sunday, June 14: Protests get larger and more violent, Basiji (plainclothes "police" loyal to the Supreme Leader) begin to exercise violence in attempting to quell the protests. The regime begins blocking Internet chat sites, email, Facebook, and other communication channels. Some reports say that the communication crackdown began BEFORE THEY ANNOUNCED THE ELECTION RESULTS. Late Sunday night, Basiji storm the dorms at a (maybe several?) Tehran university arresting many students, and killing some (I'm not CNN). Many (perhaps hundreds by now) of the students detained in these nightly raids ARE STILL MISSING.

4. Monday, June 15: Mousavi supporters take to the streets in previously unheard-of numbers in Tehran and other cities. Non-violent protests of nearly 2 million are estimated in Tehran alone. As the numbers swell, tension between Basiji and other government "security" forces rise. Government security goons riding motorcycles (one guy driving and one guy whacking people with a nightstick) are patrolling the street. Several are pulled from their motorcycles and set upon by protesters, then rescued by other protesters who remember that Mousavi has asked them to remain non-violent. By the end of the day it's estimated that security forces (with the Basiji being the most violent) have killed over 10 protesters and seriously wounded who knows how many others. Major news channels (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc) which have been mostly silent on the budding revolution begin to provide coverage. In particular, the Boston Globe posts a page full of pictures that have been squeaked out of the attempted communications crackdown. Worldwide attention has been fully captured (including mine) due to the paradigm-changing phenomenon that is twitter. Things are getting serious. People around the world (including yours truly) are displaying green in profile pictures, clothing, and virtually anything else imaginable as a show of support and sympathy for the Iranians. Obama (very wisely, even though I'm not his biggest fan) states that the government of Iran is for Iranians to determine, preventing the regime from having the US as a scapegoat. The world (including the US State Department) talks Twitter and their network provider from moving a scheduled downtime from 9:45PM Pacific time Monday (the middle of the day in Tehran) to 2:00PM Pacific Time (roughly 1AM in Tehran) Tuesday, since Twitter is a vital communication tool for the protesters. People from all over the world are setting up proxies for Iranians to connect to the Internet through, bypassing the government's blockade on web communication. A young protester is shot in the face by a Barsiji outside one of the headquarters buildings, and the protesters on that street storm and burn down the building.

5. Tuesday, June 16: More rallies, more violence. Rogue twitter accounts (opened by government or government-friendly individuals) begin attempting to spread misinformation amongst the resistance. This remains largely ineffective as by now most people who are taking anything like an active role (even in just observing) know who the reliable sources are. Higher-ranking reform "leaders" have been arrested, with no-one aware of their whereabouts. It is estimated that by now over 4M people have taken to the streets in Tehran alone. It appears that this has escalated beyond a simple recount or brand new election, and that most of the protesters want real change.

6. Wednesday, June 17: Nighttime raids by the Barsiji on university campuses continue. Government is attempting to tighten its grip on outgoing Internet communication, but people from all over the world continue to set up proxy servers, VPNs, and other anonymous means of communication on the web. Stats begin to show up concerning twitter traffic, with a report of a peak volume of over 200,000 tweets in one hour concerning the situation in Iran.

As most who know me are already aware, I'm a firm supporter of the ideas espoused and enshrined by the Founding Fathers of the United States. This includes the right (and responsibility) to protest against, and if necessary overthrow, oppressive government. I honestly can't say that it is a majority of the 70 million citizens of Iran who want change. What I can say is that enough want freedom that they deserve to be heard. The Constitution of the United States was not a complete, unanimous consensus but rather a carefully (and hotly) debated series of compromises between vastly differing interests. To be frank, I don't care what kind of government Iran has when this is all over, but I know 4 things:

1. In looking at the pictures coming out of Iran, it is startlingly clear that most of these people are not so different than me. They go to school like me. They go to work like me. They love their families. Some of them even look a little bit like me.

2. These people are human beings, and as such deserve at the very least a voice, and for that voice to be heard.

3. From what I can tell, the vast majority of these protesters have been non-violent, and in return hundreds have been met with brutality, kidnapping (it's not an arrest when you are not charged with anything and nobody knows where they're keeping you) and murder. Yup. That's what I said. When an armed man shoots into a crowd of unarmed people, I'm calling that murder.

4. These people are doing the exact same thing that I would be doing in their situation. They are doing very nearly the same thing that led to the birth of the United States. They believe, as do I, that all children of God have certain, unalienable rights. So, they say Allah o Akbar (God is Great). I say God bless them, and I'll be praying for their voice to be heard. As the updates flash by on my screen at work, I'll be hoping to see a peaceful, productive end to this uproar, and hoping that the voice of the Iranian people will continue to be heard.

At long last...

2009-06-06T23:51:00.005-06:00

For the last couple of years, whenever Nicole and I have gone on a trip, she's taken her camera and I've used our little point & shoot. Whenever I've tried to do something that was just plain beyond its capabilities, I would ask if I could borrow hers. The answer was usually the same: "Buy your own dang camera." She almost always actually let me use hers, but only under protest.

So I saved for a while, and with the aid of some birthday funds I bought a Nikon D60 and took up a new hobby. Then, just the other day Nicole and I were up taking pictures of the sunset at Rock Canyon and she pointed out that after 6 years we've finally found a common interest; something we both like to do. So I've collected my favorite pictures I've taken since April. You can see more at my picasa web album.

One of the cacti at H&I's house in Green Valley. (4-4-09)

An interesting rock across the street from there. (4-5-09)

Some flowering pear blossoms on Easter morning. (4-12-09)

A little branch of a runoff crick in the South Fork of Provo Canyon (5-3-09).

Sunset from Rock Canyon. (5-14-09)

A white flower. yup, that's right. (5-22-09)

The eyes of a storm over Orderville. (5-23-09)

A wide panorama of the sunset from Slate Canyon (5-29-09)

The runoff crick coming out of Rock Canyon. (5-31-09)

A wide panorama of the sunset from Rock Canyon (5-31-09)

The Big Dipper at about midnight. (6-5-09)

Sunset over Deer Creek Reservoir (6-6-09)

Wordless Wednesday: you'll never guess who I went to take pictures with...

2009-06-03T23:40:00.001-06:00

Me and Mr. E.

2009-04-27T19:41:00.005-06:00

So I'm finally getting around to remembering that I have a blog now that the semester is over and I've survived the usual last-week-of-class ordeal. Nicole's sister Natalie and her kids were visiting from Denver so here are some pictures that I took or was otherwise involved in.

Watching a little Planet Earth...
After watching a little Planet Earth...
Nicole and Mr. E. (whose facial expressions remind me a _lot_ of Calvin)...

So many eggs, all to myself...

Photos by me, except the ones with me in them, which were not by me growing telekinetic powers (as cool as that would be) but rather (and much less cool-ly) were taken by Nicole.

Apparently it's the day for it...

2009-03-26T20:16:00.005-06:00

According to my FSIL Natalie, Thursdays are the days for random thoughts. I've been having lots lately, so here are a few of them:

1. I went to turn in my Honor Code sheet about a week and a half ago. The middle-aged lady who was there mentioned I could use a shave. I didn't argue; it had been a couple of days. The only reason I hadn't shaved the night before (or that morning) was because I was up until like 0200 taking a midterm and shaving with a straight razor when you're very tired is not a good idea. Here's where the fun begins. As I turned to leave she informed me that they couldn't process my form until I came back and showed them a clean-shaven face. Yup, that's right, you actually read that, and she actually said it. After handing her a paper that said I give my word to abide by the Honor Code, and told her the reason why I was a little scruffy, the Honor Code office lady told me she couldn't take that word, and that I had to come back clean shaven to show them that I do, in fact, at age 28 know how to shave. I'm _very_ tempted to not go in for another week or so, then not shave again. Since going in once with a clean-shaven face means I'll always be clean shaven. Unreal.

2. Apparently I really like AC/DC these days. I've been listening to last.fm and pandora.com at work a lot lately, and hearing a lot of their older stuff that I don't have in my collection any more (temporarily). Loving it. My favorites are Jailbreak, Let There Be Rock, Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution, and Who Made Who.

3. Two swear free weeks can come to a very sudden end when a burr in the edge of a very nice straight razor you are sharpening catches on the edge of your hone and breaks a big chip in the edge. Here's to starting over (on the razor and not swearing).

4. It's amazing to me how many people/companies/other entities want the government to stay the heck out of their lives until we are in a recession. Then they want to figure out every possible way to get the government in their lives (monetarily at least). Amusing.

5. Friction and Inertia are very interesting things. My favorite scripting language is Python. It's clean, enforces well-structured code, and awesome. However, I find myself using Perl (can be made clean with effort, can have well-structured code with effort) on lots of scripting projects at work because there is very little inertia in interfacing with system commands and regular expressions/pattern matching in Perl.

6. The cream almost _always_ comes off on the cookie side of the golden oreo with the crack. Since I like to split the cookie and lick the cream off, I find this _highly_ annoying.

7. One of my resolutions this year was to get back in shape. The 100 pushup challenge was a good start. I'm fairly well pleased with my progress there. In 2.5 months I've gone from being able to do 50 or so all at once to being able to do 75 _after_ doing 200 spread over 4 or 8 sets. Pullups (using the same progression) are progressing much more slowly, since my biceps and lats are working with my whole (too heavy) body, but we're making progress. Situps are another story. I've always hated situps, and consequently have yet to actually hold myself to the plan with situps. Once it warms up a little bit I'll start running again. That ought to be a hoot. But I can't ride my bike this summer and I have to do something. Plus, when I ever get back in any kind of shape I'll enjoy running like I used to.

8. There are only 2.5 weeks left of the semester. I have to get my butt in gear. Big time. which means that's enough random thoughts for one evening...

p.s. By the time most of you read this, you'll be getting the version that has been edited for clarity and proper-ness... :)

Happy Endings

2009-02-19T19:19:00.003-07:00

Well, yesterday was my grandpa's funeral. Having grown up in a small town with lots of older folks in it, I've been to my fair share of funerals for those who've lived long, full lives and were ready to move on. In addition, I've been to some for those who I wasn't ready to have move on without me, starting with my Uncle Daniel's little baby girl Shannon (who was stillborn) and my grandma on my mom's side, who died at the age of 57, one month before I went on my mission. Possibly the saddest funeral I've ever been to was that of one of my best friends from my mission, who died 4 years after he came home, and less than 2 years after getting married.

Our lives are stories, and my grandpa's is one I'd dearly like to have seen firsthand. And yet, as I look back at what I know of my grandpa's life, his has shaped mine, and many of the qualities I so admired in him have occasionally peeked through in me.

Grandpa spent several years living out with the sheep herd, and later working cows. I spent a lot of my spare time in high school wandering around (on foot or in my truck) out in the desert and up on the mountain, in many of the places my grandpa had been years before.

It was partially because of him that I joined the Army, and he and my dad taught me how to spit-shine my first issued pair of boots. Occasionally when things got a little hard at Basic Training and AIT, the knowledge that my grandpa (and my dad) had been there before helped me to keep going.

Grandpa was an excellent cook, although not one to really use recipes. He just put stuff together and it always tasted good. With some help from my dad, I also am not a recipe cook, and my meals almost always turn out pretty darn good.

Grandpa was a quiet joker. He never said much, but you could always tell that there was a little glint of mischief in his eyes, waiting for the chance to come out, and some of my clearest memories of my grandpa were when he was pulling a joke on someone. I'm not nearly as quiet as Grandpa was, and my jokes are a little more frequent and usually a little less subtle than some of his, but you know...

Grandpa just kept on going. My mom used to say he could teach the Energizer Bunny a thing or two about that, and it's true. I mentioned the other day his ability to wear me into the ground when I went hunting with him when I was a kid. It never quite sunk in to me that those walks (runs, for me) all over creation when I had to run to keep up, and would be _very_ tired the rest of the day, were when he was 70 years old. And all that wood we hauled, when I couldn't hardly stack fast enough to keep ahead of him were when he was closer to 80 than 70. You'll have to ask me in 50 years whether or not I measure up to him in that respect, but the one thing I've always been able to do in my life, no matter how hard things have been, is just keep on going.

Grandpa's life definitely left its mark on him. As long as I can remember, he's had kind of a hunch to his back, and the last several years he said it took him a little longer to get going in the mornings than it used to. However, I never heard him complain about it. When he said it was a little harder for him to get around than it used to be, it was merely a statement of fact, usually immediately followed by him telling me that no, I didn't need to cut and haul firewood for him, because if I did he wouldn't have anything to do. As young as I am, I'm not a complete stranger to this. A foot I broke a few years ago causes me to limp for about 5 minutes when I wake up, and one or both of my elbows (which took a lot of strain from construction work and high school wrestling) sometimes seize up, and won't move (in either direction) until they pop. Nicole likes to play cards sitting on the floor, and if I play for more than 15 minutes or so, it takes me a good 3 or 4 minutes to stand up completely straight and walk normally again. And yet I miss working outside, with my hands, and I can't wait to have a yard to work in, and take my kids (if we're ever able to have any) to go cut wood up in the mountains with their grandpa.

And now to endings. Grandpa was an incredible man. He lived a full, long life, and was a great grandpa. I don't know much about many of the trials he may have faced, or things he might have struggled with, but I do know that all my life he's always been the same. Sure, he was a little more frail the last couple of years, but that didn't change him much in my eyes. Last Friday, he cut my uncle Richard's hair, had Grandma cut his hair, hauled in some wood for the stove, watched Logan cut up some kindling, built a fire, and sat down in his chair to watch the evening news, just a day like almost every other day for the past several years. He died peacefully, at the end of a normal day. None of us can think of a better way or time for him to go, and we know we'll see him again someday. I, for one, can't wait to see him tall and sturdy as my dad and uncles knew him. Now that's what I call a happy ending. Or beginning. Or maybe both.

Grandpa, me, Mike, and Nathan

Gone but never forgotten...

2009-02-15T16:31:00.002-07:00

Friday evening while Nicole and I were at Carrabba's for our Valentines date I got a phone call from my grandma's number. Normally, I don't answer or return calls when out with Nicole, but my grandma _never_ calls me. So I checked my voicemail to discover my dad telling me that my grandpa (his dad) had passed away earlier that afternoon. Although it was not entirely unexpected, as he was 90 years old and finally starting to slow down, I found myself sadder than I thought I'd be (most who know me know I'm not emotional about much at all). After Carrabba's, I took Nicole to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (we'd already been, but Nicole _really_ liked it, so I figured we'd go again) and I have to say, watching that movie on a "normal" day (we saw it for Nicole's birthday the first time) is one thing, but watching it an hour after learning that my grandpa died was a totally different experience, and not in a bad way.

When we got home that evening, Nicole of course had to blog about the movie again, and I figured that we'd be going to bed fairly soon, so I didn't start working on homework. So I sat and remembered things about my grandpa. Here are some of my thoughts about a truly incredible man:

1. 20 years ago, I never wanted to be the one to go with Grandpa when we split up while hunting, because I had to run the whole time to keep up, and he never seemed to slow down. Ever.

2. A large part of the reason I switched from wanting to be a fighter pilot when I was that little to wanting to be in the Army was when I learned that Grandpa had served in World War 2, and his dad (my great-grandpa) had served in France in World War 1.

3. A few years later, when I was big enough to do actual work when we would go cut firewood but still young enough that I didn't realize exactly how old he was, I began to take it for granted that stacking on Grandpa's side of the truck meant that I had to stack fast, because he would hand wood up into the truck much faster than I could stack it, and he never seemed to slow down. Ever.

4. As long as I can remember, Grandpa has had a fairly significant hunch, which I learned about the same time (age 13 or 14 or so) had come partly because of having several inches of his small intestine removed after being shot 5 times in a failed robbery of the rock and jewelry shop he and my grandma ran at the time (early 70's) and partly from working _very_ hard his entire life. Grandpa's toughness and resiliency took on a whole new meaning for me then.

5. When I got older and started wandering around the Arizona Strip and Cedar Mountain by myself (well, with my gun and my dog) I would spend some evenings sitting in Grandpa's room telling him where I'd been, and listening to what he had done in those same places. I learned a _lot_ about the places I loved to be from him. I learned where the deer went during different seasons, where the eagles wintered, and a host of other things from these evening visits.

6. We used to sit around listening to Grandpa's stories every now and then, and let me tell you, he's been there and done that (at least as far as outdoor things are concerned).

7. I don't think I'll ever have sourdough biscuits as good as the ones Grandpa used to make.

8. Dad, Grandpa and I (sometimes with my mom along for the ride) used to go scouting for the place we'd go roll Easter Eggs every Easter. Despite the fact that we went every year, he always knew where there was another sandy hill that would make a good egg-rolling track.

9. After I got home from Basic Training, Dad and I would spend evenings talking to Grandpa again about different places around Southern Utah, what animals lived where, what we'd seen out riding around, etc...

10. Grandpa had a sense of humor. One evening in the fall probably in the early-to-mid-90's when most of the family was there and we were bottling veggies, Grandpa starting making the rounds with spoonfuls of his pickle-relish. It was yummy, until the little red chilis he had put in it kicked in, at which time he'd laugh and bring a glass of water.

11. On another occasion, Grandpa laughed for about 15 minutes straight at Mom's reaction to something that she wished she hadn't said. First time I'd ever seen him laugh so hard he cried. If you were there, you know what I'm talking about. If you weren't there, you'll have to ask me in person as I won't incriminate anybody or anything on my blog. :) (don't worry, it's nothing very bad)

12. Even as he got older (as if mid-70's isn't old enough to start slowing down) and started to slow down a little, he still chopped and carried in his own firewood, fed and took care of my uncle's animals, grew a garden (until just a year or two ago) and did the same stuff he'd always done, just not quite as much of it.

I have far too many memories of Grandpa to list them all here, but I'll always remember the time I spent with him, sitting by the wood stove, sitting in their living room, sitting on the chest in his bedroom while he rested in the evenings. For a lot of years of my life, Grandpa was a central figure in things I liked to do: hunting, hiking, camping and many others. I learned many valuable life lessons from him, not the least of which is to just keep on going. and going.

So I'll miss my grandpa. He's always been there, and always been such a solid and seemingly unchanging part of my life. But the silver lining is that sooner or later I'll see him again, tall and straight as he was before being shot and long years of hard work, and I'm sure he'll have that same quiet manner, with the occasional glint of mischief in his eye, and probably not slowing down much. Ever.

Ok, Ok, I'll do it...

2009-02-11T20:08:00.008-07:00

So like a million people (ok, only five or so) have tagged me on facebook for the 25 things about you thing. And my mom tagged me with something a lot like it, so I'm doing this here cuz my mom isn't on facebook and I'm killing two birds with one stone.

So here we go.

1. I am an awesome cook. Not so much with following recipes, but if I just make stuff up, it's almost always super yummy.

2. Except for my mission, I have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings every year for 17 years.

3. I like watching American Idol. Most of the time. The season that Fantasia won was boring as death, but the rest of the time it's pretty good. I'm a big fan of Bo Bice, Chris Daughtry, and David Cook.

4. When I graduated from high school I could bench press 340 pounds, dead-lift 500, and squat about 650. Now I cannot. :)

5. When I got my mission call (on April 1st, 1999) I almost gave my grandma a heart attack by telling her I had been called to a 4 year service mission to mainland China. I also pissed off my then girlfriend by telling her my Army Reserve unit had been mobilized to Kosovo. Perks of getting your call on April fools...

6. I once thought I'd wrestle and run track at college (if I ever went). I even got a letter from BYU's wrestling team, but I was anti-BYU back then, and wanted to wrestle at Ricks (now BYU Idaho) because they were a big feeder program for the big wrestling schools. I don't wrestle any more...

7. I did not think in a million years I would marry someone like Nicole.

8. I did not think in a billion years I could be so happily married to someone so unlike me.

9. I've been playing the guitar off and on for about 15 years. Someday I'll have the time to play a lot and get good again.

10. I'm a very good shot. Being at BYU has put a hold on lots of shooting, but I'll graduate soon and restock my gun collection.

11. I believe strongly in the right to keep and bear arms. It is the one non-religious thing I will never back down on.

12. I love Hawaii. A lot. I'm gonna live there some day. (hopefully)

13. I like hot weather. A lot. My optimal range starts at about 85 and so far as I have experienced doesn't have a ceiling. After my first winter in Toronto (almost 2 month stretch where it never got above -10C) I swore I'd never complain about heat again.

14. As mentioned earlier, I was once very much anti-BYU. When I moved to Provo, the 2 things I did _not_ want to do were go to BYU and live in BYU-approved housing. I have since repented. There's nowhere I would have rather gone to school, and I met my dear Nicole in BYU-approved housing.

15. I'm a big fan of fast cars. Musclecars, rice-rockets, as long as it's fast I dig it. Making it go fast is almost half the fun.

16. I don't go anywhere without at least one pocketknife, a lighter, and a sharpening stone.

17. I wear boots. Corcoran boots. I'm cool with spending $125 on a pair of boots that will last as long as these do. My last pair lasted over 6 years and easily several thousand miles.

18. I like road-tripping. With the windows down, and the music loud (yes even in the summer my AC is fresh air at 70 mph).

19. According to Nicole, I'm dead inside. I've cried once and a half times since 1990. I think I'm just not a big crier.

20. I've broken my nose 6 times. In the winter time my nose is always cold, and it's a rare day when one nostril or the other isn't clogged at least a little.

21. I'm a recent fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

22. Like Star Wars I do. Learn much from it, one can. Being totally serious, I am.

23. Pain is not a deterrent to fun for me. I think my pain receptors are slightly broken from overuse. I've broken 2 bike helmets, had numerous cracked ribs, and a _lot_ of road/dirt/rock rash. I don't care. For most things, if you can't get hurt doing it, it isn't all that fun.

24. Despite being a redneck, I can appreciate "civilized" stuff. Given a song or two, I can name the show to 99% of Nicole's favorite Broadway songs.

25. I really like to build stuff. I will someday own a wood and machine shop. With a hoist. And a forge. I'm totally serious.

Wordless (on my part) Wednesday: So he didn't get all the young punk burned out of him after all...

2009-02-04T00:21:00.004-07:00

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: Not the original, but not too bad...

2009-01-28T21:50:00.004-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: It's like looking in a mirror...

2009-01-14T19:35:00.003-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: Apparently I'm not the only one "following" the progress of Spirit and Opportunity...

2008-11-19T01:29:00.004-07:00

(image courtesy of MarsPhoenix and Gizmodo)

Wordless Wednesday: while we're on a Star Wars note, it appears there was a truce while I was gone the other day...

2008-11-12T12:45:00.002-07:00

That's it...

2008-11-09T19:38:00.002-07:00

It's happened. That point in every debugging session where if I don't take a break I will cause myself or my computer physical damage. So I'm taking a break.

I've been mildly amused by reactions to the election last Tuesday. For several reasons. So here goes.

1. It's amusing how much the American people attribute to the President in light of how little he can actually do. Sure, he can suggest a bill, but law-making is entirely out of his hands. Sure, the confidence of the people in the President reflects somewhat on the economy, but there's not a dang thing he can do about it actually. Sure, he can say his plan includes tax cuts, improved programs, etc... but the legislative branch has to actually make the laws to implement them.

2. I've heard several people mention (mostly before the election) that if Obama were elected they would move to Canada (presumably because it's easy to cross the border???). People. Have you ever _been_ to Canada? Obama would make a pretty good right-wing nutcase up there.

3. I've heard several people express their sorrow and/or fear for our nation at the fact that Obama was elected. This is really funny to me. How much direct effect has the Bush administration had on your daily life? Really? The only direct affect the Bush administration has had on my life is that Federal Financial Aid was cut. And it's a lot more of a pain in the can to get on an airplane. Don't get me wrong. I voted for Bush both times, and I'm not sure the alternative would have been much different. It's just funny that people are so concerned about the future of the country now that a different idealogy will be in the White House. If you look at numbers throughout the last few decades, the so-called "GOP" has been the party to increase government spending and government size. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure 4 years of a different mindset will be that bad of a thing.

4. I've seen several petitions/groups asking for Obama to provide his birth-certificate. This is a good one. His mother is an American citizen people. Therefore, he is an American citizen. Do we really need to argue the point?

5. I have finally reached the point of complete apathy regarding the election process. My life's dream now is that someday there will be an election wherein I won't be trying to decide which of the major candidates will do the least worst job. After months of mud-slinging ("He's un-American. He's unbalanced. blah, blah, blah) I was completely fed up. While I like _some_ (not to be confused with "all") of Obama's policy ideas better than McCain's non-specfics, I don't really like either of their policy ideas, so I voted for Bob Barr.

6. I've heard a lot of people (not just my boss) say that Ron Paul would have been an ideal candidate 200 years ago. I'm not entirely certain a candidate who looked good 200 years ago would look so bad today. Most of my displeasure over the Bush administration stems from a less-than-intelligent foreign policy program. I agree entirely with Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and others who say we have _way_ too many problems here at home to need to be bothering with the rest of the world. There are certain things that I believe should not be allowed anywhere, anytime. Genocide is one of them, which is one of the reasons I think that we've accomplished something worthwhile in Iraq, even though I don't agree 100% that we should have been there to begin with. It's kind of irritating that so mass murder/genocide happens elsewhere in the world that doesn't rate the same kind of response. If you're going to be the international do-gooder, at least spread it around a little, eh?

7. As you might be able to tell, I'm a little fed up these days. The Bush administration has failed to make good on quite a few of its promises. The soon-to-be Obama administration has lots of ideas that look good on paper, but I wonder where they will get the money with the tax cuts he has proposed. Whatever happened to finding the best person for the job? Hence, my previously-mentioned life dream. Maybe someday.

8. Don't get me wrong here. I think George W. is a good guy, and I think he felt that he was doing the right thing most of the time. If I weren't so sick of the partisan mud-slinging fest, I probably would have voted for McCain, simply because on the whole I still feel that of the major parties (i.e. those whose candidates have a chance of being elected) the Republican party comes closer to my ideals than the Democratic party. It's just mildly amusing to me that so many people think a Democratic president (whose projected ideas are not much different than any other Democratic president we've had in the last few decades) signals the end of the world.

9. I am now done being amused at politics and will now return to debugging my graphics project.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: that's 5 bags, with 5 bottles each

2008-11-05T17:17:00.005-07:00

Happy birthday Hen. Hope 50 liters of Diet Coke is plenty for your celebration...

I suppose it could have turned out worse...

2008-11-01T10:23:00.003-06:00

Way to get in the spirit of the holiday guys.

2008-10-31T17:00:00.004-06:00

Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Spider Man. You've pretty much covered all of the media that ever gets talked about at my office. All that's missing is Dr. Who...

Disclaimer on the picture. My phone has a big crack _right_ over the camera lens.

Wordless Wednesday: It's coming...

2008-10-22T00:04:00.001-06:00

I know, I know, enough already...

2008-10-06T19:35:00.003-06:00

Look at me, 2 posts in 2 days. Don't get used to it, though, my mom tagged me and I knew if I didn't do it right now I'd forget. So here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Where is your significant other? 6'away
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? crazy
5. Your father? mellow
6. Your favorite thing? electrons
7. Your dream last night? non-existent
8. Your dream/goal? graduating
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? biking
11. Your fear? drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Apple
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? graduated
15. One of your wish-list items? Challenger

16. Where you grew up? Orderville
17. The last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? hat
19. Your TV? korean
20. Your pet? non-existent
21. Your computer? unending
22. Your mood? normal
23. Missing someone? nah
24. Your car? Yeti
25. Something you're not wearing? bra
26. Favorite store? amazon.com
27. Your summer? crazy
28. Love someone? much-ly
29. Your favorite color? orange
30. When is the last time you laughed? barely
31. Last time you cried? 2002

Guess what? Not tagging anybody. You're all off the hook. Look at me defying convention.

Where has all the accountability gone?

2008-10-05T12:37:00.003-06:00

It's official. Our "Limited Government" government has signed into law the $700 billion bailout bill. Why? Because some clever people found a way to add around $1oo billion in pet project "pork" to the bill.

So who is going to be held accountable? Is it the sub-prime lenders who enabled the mess? Is it the idiots who bought homes well beyond what they could afford because the sub-prime lenders told them they could? What's going on? Allow me to illustrate with an example from Bob Cringely:

Take our current national economic mess, the so-called sub-prime mortgage crisis. I like to think that I'm not a subprime kind of guy, but pretending to work as I do (my kids think I TYPE for a living) the world may not always see me the way I would like to be seen. So last year, in what we didn't know were the waning and idyllic pre-subprime days, I tried to get a new mortgage. Of course I used the Internet to get the loan because, as we all know, when banks compete I win. And within a few days, without having to actually meet with or even speak to another human, I found myself offered a $336,000 mortgage.

It was SO easy. Fill out a few online forms, make some choices, and there I was, about to close that loan. But then I did an odd thing. I carefully read the papers I was about to sign (I'm one of THOSE people). And in that residential loan application, right on line something or other, was a number that didn't make any sense to me at all. It was labeled "total household income" and was almost twice the pitiful amount I actually earn.

From where did that number come? It certainly never came from me. Since my signature would be at the bottom of this application I wanted to make sure everything was correct, so I called the mortgage broker. For the first time we spoke. She was a very nice lady, too, and explained that number was the variable required for all the ratios to be correct so I could qualify for the loan.

"But it isn't true," I said.

"Do you want the loan or not?" she asked.

Not.

I wasn't so principled as cowardly, but maybe that doesn't matter: I did what I knew was the right thing for me, which was to walk away from the loan. But evidently a lot of other people took the other course and today are having trouble paying for their houses, which is a big part of the reason why we are in this current economic mess.

Now there is someone with a brain. "Oh, I don't think I can afford this house, I guess I won't buy it". Which brings me back to the main question: Who is going to be held accountable for this mess? Apparently not the people who made the poor choices, and apparently not the people who made it so easy for them to make that poor choice, but the everyday taxpayer, including those who were not even close to being in a position to make any choice on sub-prime lending, and including those who used their brains and chose wisely.

Oh, there's one more thing. Want to know two of the people leading the fight for the bailout to pass once the pork was added? Oh, a couple of guys named Bob Bennet and Orrin Hatch. Way to represent your constituents, guys.

Oh, and think that this pork that got added was all for the common good? Check this out:

And I probably wouldn't have noticed...

2008-09-29T23:56:00.003-06:00

As I was winding down from some programming tonight, Nicole walked over by me and asked, "So are you going to notice, or do I have to tell you?"

Me being me, I looked around my work area and didn't see anything amiss, so she told me to look at the toys on the top level of my desk shelf (that she hates).

I like Star Wars, and I like toys, so I have some Star Wars Lego figures, and little funny Star Wars figurines, and a Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader action figure. Normally, Luke and Vader are in various fighting poses, that I change whenever I get really bored or need a break from programming and nothing else sounds fun. The little figures are usually in some form of opposing situation.

As I looked up tonight, what did I see but Luke doing the Limbo under Darth Vader's light-saber, supported by our DSL Modem. The three little figures are "standing" with their arms around each other, with blue ghost Obi-Wan floating over them approvingly.

Needless to say, Nicole was very amused by her cleverness.

Now what could the person who controls the home network do in retaliation... (if you don't understand the comic, you can look here. You won't understand the explanation, but scroll down to the pictures and it'll be crystal clear)

Summer's last days...

2008-09-04T22:55:00.003-06:00

So we just got back (recently) from our annual trip to Newport Beach with Nicole's family. Right at the end of the summer, it's a good break before school starts. And this year, we had a week to recover before school started, so that was even better. So here's some pics of the trip.

Me and Nicole

Chelsea and Awix at the pool

Playing with Jayden

Chucking Jayden

Chucking Chelsea

In the beginning...

The other beginning...

A little mid-day churro goodness

I can't think of anyplace I'd rather read than at the beach.

Too funny to not blog...

2008-08-04T23:20:00.004-06:00

I laughed till my face hurt, as did everyone else in the office...

If you've never heard the song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by The Charlie Daniels Band, you might want to listen to it first. You can listen to it here.

If you so desire, you can find the original (un-edited) version here at the very bottom of the page. Not for those offended by profanity.

It was bound to happen eventually...

2008-08-04T13:06:00.003-06:00

That's right folks. I may have been to the ballet, and the symphony, and some musicals, but today we see that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Today, Nicole compiled and ran a C program from the command-line. I've never been so proud. Okay, so maybe I have. But if you're talking about milestones, this one is a pretty huge milestone.

Welcome to computer geekdom, my love. You've taken your first step into a larger world.

Yup, that's right.

2008-08-02T18:36:00.004-06:00

I have hacked my iPod Touch. As a result, I have all kinds of goodies that Apple would never allow in the App Store. Here's some pictures of one of my favorites:

Battery mostly drained...

Battery charged...

Totally awesome. Whoever wrote this is a genius.

MUST. HAVE. IT.

2008-07-29T10:04:00.004-06:00

Ever see something and think that your life won't be complete without it. I just did. Check it out.

That really is the coolest thing since sliced bread. If only the remote was a little light-saber stored in the top...

Arlington Cemetery

2008-06-29T18:44:00.015-06:00

We went to Arlington Cemetery a week ago today, and since yesterday Nicole and Grandma were going to a couple more art galleries, I decided that I'd bookend the week with what was probably my favorite part of the trip: Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Here are a few pictures and a video.

Since the Civil War, American Soldiers have been buried at Arlington Cemetery. From virtually anywhere in the cemetery, the ordered rows of headstone stretch literally as far as you can see. this adds a little weight to the fact that _very_ many have sacrificed so we can enjoy the freedoms we have in this country.

My favorite part of the cemetery will probably not surprise you. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with its solitary guard, is something I could visit every day. Had I not wanted to serve a mission so badly, the Third Infantry Division (The Old Guard) was one of the 3 things I most wanted to do in the Army.

The metal taps in the guards' shoes have left lines of rust on the stone where they walk their posts and perform their ceremonies 365 days a year, year in and year out. There are no non-straight lines here, and no non-90-degree angles.

The guards themselves are the pinnacle of solitary military precision and discipline. Their uniforms and weapons are flawless. Their eyes are fixed straight ahead. Their movements are crisp. They stand perfectly straight and still until the 21 seconds of each pause expire. The guard I watched yesterday paused for _exactly_ the same amount of time at each pause in his post. (by my watch it was 21 1/2 seconds)

The Sentinel's Creed, posted outside the quarters of the guard detachment, says it all:

Ignore the crappy camera holding and notice the perfect synchronization of the movements of the guards during the changing of the guard ceremony:

Many units of the Army have paid their respects to the Unknown Soldiers of war. These are posted by two units in which my dad served: the first in Germany, the second in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

George Washington once said, "Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."

The soldiers of the who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier exemplify that discipline, and are a credit to a profession I am proud to have been a part of.

It _is_ real. I've been there.

2008-06-27T17:49:00.010-06:00

Some of you may know that I'm a bit of a Tolkien geek. I am one of those for whom Middle Earth is a very real place. And today we received incontrovertible proof. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Bilbo Baggins Restaurant and the Green Dragon Pub.

Friendly service is, indeed, a hobbit, and as noted in The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo is very much so an excellent chef.

Bonus points (and maybe a small prize) for whoever can identify the secret picture from the book...

P.S. My wife is awesome:

2008-06-22T22:48:00.002-06:00

I will be eternally baffled at how this didn't make her top five for today. Talk about right place, right time.

In case you may have been wondering. No, I didn't take this picture. She did.

Memorials in the Dark

2008-06-22T20:16:00.010-06:00

I also will be taking some photos during our vacation, but I'm not nearly as compulsively organizational as Nicole and will not be narrowing my selection down as far here on my blog (it'll probably be below 10). These are some of my favorites from last night. I'll be posting the rest of this excursion on Picasa here. More to come from today...

This is what I do...

2008-06-14T15:37:00.002-06:00

Some of you may think that this is the remains of a somewhat boring sunset. You'd be wrong. By about 8 hours.

This officially sucks.

2008-06-10T20:08:00.004-06:00

No baby this time around, folks. This really sucks. Makes it kinda hard to want to pull the all-nighters I have coming in the next few days to finish projects before the semester is over. In fact, it makes it kinda hard to want to do much of anything. Perfect timing, eh? More shots for Nicole, more ovaries the size of grapefruits for Nicole. Am I allowed to be tired of building character? I'm a character, aren't I?

You can expect a return to regularly scheduled programming of goofiness when I'm done being bummed.

Laters.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer...

2008-06-07T23:44:00.004-06:00

If only this wasn't real...

YES!!!!!!

2008-06-02T18:01:00.002-06:00

Nicole and I were just talking about music I've "introduced" her to (that she actually realized she liked once she gave them a chance).

After listing Van Halen, Bon Jovi, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, she asked "Who else?"

I replied, "Grand Funk Railroad," to which she responded, "That's American Band, right?"

I've never been so ecstatically proud of my influence on her. (5 seconds ago when Van Halen's Right Now started playing and she ID'd not only the band, but the name of the song, was pretty close though...)

Plant the seeds, and they will grow...

Unreal. Totally Unreal.

2008-05-30T21:55:00.003-06:00

As many of you know, I don't really get upset about things that don't affect me directly. Heck, I don't even get upset about quite a few things that do affect me directly. But every now and then I'll see or read something that really sets me off. Which leads me to tonight.

The first part of our story begins with a rare, but beautiful event. Every now and then, Nicole will mention in passing something about going to Krispy Kreme. She will then immediately deny that she was serious and tell me to turn around and go home. But I know better. So we moseyed on over to Krispy Kreme for some warm, light, fluffy, heavenly goodness. Which is where our story turns south.

We were standing in line and I was admiring the finely-tuned machinery that brings this delicious marvel to life, when I noticed the middle-aged guy in front of us asking his 4 kids if they wanted samples. The kids dutifully filed forward from watching the doughnuts being made to receive their sample from the girl who was helping customers as the dad ate his sample. He then mentioned that there was one more in the car. The girl handing out samples promptly handed him another doughnut and then went back to filling orders. The guy then walked past us and walked out the door. At first I didn't think anything of it, figuring that he was just taking the sample doughnut to whatever little nubbin, or perhaps his wife, waiting in the car after which he would come back and place his order. No big deal, since there were like 3 or 4 people waiting in line before him. Then I heard him say to his kids, who were again watching the doughnuts cooking, to hurry up and come on. Nicole and I turned to each other in disbelief. Did this guy actually come to Krispy Kreme, knowing that they give you a free sample while you wait in line, to get a free doughnut for himself and the kids, and just leave without buying anything? Or even saying thank you to the employee who handed him and his 4 kids their free sample?

"No way," I thought. But sure enough, I looked out the window and watched him herding his kids into the minivan. This guy had actually come to mooch a free doughnut without buying anything. I couldn't believe it.

Now, I know what it's all about to be a little short-funded, and I don't know what the guy's circumstances are. But seriously. A half-dozen doughnuts is like $5. That's one combo meal at a fast food restaurant. A gallon and a half of gas. So for a guy who's packing a blackberry on his belt, $5 is not a heck of a lot. So what the heck does this guy think he's doing walking into Krispy Kreme, getting his free sample (which is given as a courtesy to their customers who are waiting to buy doughnuts) and walking out as soon as their backs are turned?

This bugs the crap out of me. Seriously. If you want a doughnut, buy a freaking doughnut. Don't go freeloading on a company offering a courtesy for their paying customers. What the heck? If I want a Krispy Kreme bad enough to actually go to their store I want one bad enough to pay for it. Don't get me wrong, a free sample is enough of a pull that I only go to Krispy Kreme when the hot light is on, but I'm going to buy some doughnuts, not get a free one and boogie on out of there.

This is a serious economic problem in the guise of a cheap, middle-aged blackberry toter and his kids. This is why public services are almost never effective or long-lived. How long is Krispy Kreme going to offer free doughnuts to customers waiting in line if they see those customers leaving without buying anything after receiving their sample? It's the same with any public service meant as a courtesy to potential paying customers. If those customers get what they want (even if it's only a small portion) without paying, there is very little incentive for them to stick around and pay for the real deal.

So, Mr. grab-samples-and-run, knock it off. At the cost of your integrity and $5 for a half-dozen doughnuts, your hosing the rest of us who are willing to pay for a few doughnuts after enjoying a free one. So hunker down and shell out 1% of the cost of that blackberry on your belt and be a responsible member of society.

Some clarification.

2008-05-22T09:11:00.003-06:00

For those of you who may not know, Nicole and I are doing in vitro. In order to avoid misunderstanding, here are some frequently asked questions (to us) and their answers:

Question: Why?
Answer: Because we want to have kids. If you already know more details than that, then you know why. If you don't already know more details than that, you probably don't need to know.

Question: How are we doing with all this?
Answer: Honestly we'd much rather be able to just have kids normally. Nicole is _very_ tired of having shots and if possible I'm even more tired of giving her shots.

Question: What are our chances?
Answer: Every cycle, they have between 50% and 60% success rate. If we transfer embryos on day 3 (Saturday) that is the ballpark. If there are lots of healthy-looking embryos on day 3 and the doc says it looks okay to wait for day 5 (Monday) our chances go up to 70%, but there is a small risk (about 10% according to Dr. H.) that between day 3 and 5 all of the remaining embryos will die. So we're putting our trust in the embryolgist and the docs and we'll see what happens.

Question: What if we have twins?
Answer: Great. At this point, we'll take anything we can get.

Question: What's the plan?
Answer: There is no plan. When they call us Saturday morning and tell us what they think, we'll know what's going on. It would be nice to have twins, given that this is not going to happen very many times in our lifetime, but there's not a thing Nicole or I can do to make that happen. So the official plan is that we'll do what they tell us to do and hope for the best.

Question: What happens next?
Answer: We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

There, now you all know as much as we do.

Wordless Wednesday: So. Very. Weary.

2008-05-21T08:42:00.002-06:00

Famous one-liners (or at least one of them)

2008-05-20T23:52:00.004-06:00

Me (to the office in general): "You know, I think NSString might just be my favorite string abstraction of all programming languages."

Dr. Asplund (who for a chemist is pretty darn computer-savvy and spends a few minutes every now and then talking shop with us): "I don't know what's sadder, that you said that or that I know what you were talking about."

To boldly go where no Dell repairman has gone before...

2008-05-20T14:13:00.004-06:00

Last Friday, one of our friends brought her old Dell laptop in and asked if we could fix it, because it wouldn't close. So we looked at it, and the tab holding the screen to the hinge had popped free of the little pop-rivets holding it, and the hinge wasn't turning when the screen moved. And the hinge was _very_ stiff.

So I drilled out the pop-rivets, stuck the tab in place with a whole mess of epoxy and let it dry overnight. Then I re-drilled the holes where the pop-rivets and screws were. A little spray of food-grade silicone loosened the seized hinge a little bit, and 4 machine screws with nuts re-attached the newly re-tabbed screen to the hinge. I cut off the excess length of the screws, but the cover wouldn't go over them, so we lopped off the corner of the cover. She said she only wants the computer to last through her first semester of grad school. So no worries. But I kinda like the whole "industrial" look...

stock hinge:

alex-justin-and-michael-ized hinge:

The invisible hand. Seriously.

2008-05-16T15:12:00.003-06:00

The straw has finally broken the camel's back. I have seen the one forwarded email about gas prices that is just one too many. (Really Mom, I'm not picking on you, just whoever started that silly forward you sent me, and the gazillions of others I've seen in the last year).

It's called supply and demand, people. The reason gas costs $3.50 per gallon is not because of a government conspiracy. It's not because the Middle-Eastern oil countries are gouging us to pay for expensive, man-made, middle-of-the-desert indoor ski resorts. It's not because the oil companies are price gouging. It's plain and simple, supply and demand. Gas is $3.50 per gallon because you, me and every other one of the ever-increasing car-driving, foreign-made-good-buying population of this world will pay it. That is all.

Yeah, I know people freaked out when gas first went above $.40. I was a little upset when gas first went above a dollar. But guess what? The number of oil-consuming people in the world has more than tripled since then. Oil is not an unlimited resource folks. Economics is the science concerning the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Economics deals with the idea of scarcity and resources. That's all. It's not magic, and it's not a conspiracy.

Lets talk about this for a minute. If I have a good or resource and I want to get rid of it, I have a few options. I can give it away for free, in which case I now have nothing. I can keep it forever, in which case I still have it. Or I can trade it for something else, in which case I now have something else that I wanted more than what I originally had. Very simple still. Giving it away and keeping it are uninteresting problems, so lets talk about trading it. First, we'll talk about opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the cost of the next best alternative. Only. If I buy a pink sugar cookie instead of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, or a Milky-Way bar, or an apple, the cost associated with the pink sugar cookie is not giving up all three alternatives, only the alternative that I would have chosen otherwise. Anything other than the best alternative is nothing. So, going back to my problem, in which I have a resource and I think I want to trade it for something else, the main question involved is not, "How much can I get for this?" but, given that the opportunity cost is now either keeping it or trading it, "For what am I willing to part with this?".

Very subtle difference, but key to our issue of complaining about gas prices. If there is one person in the world that has something I'm willing to trade for my resource, my asking price is limited by him asking himself the same question. If I want what he has enough to no longer have my resource, and he feels the same, we can trade. If not, one or the other of us will have to sweeten the deal a little. However, if there are 2 billion people who all want what I have, now the idea of opportunity cost is very important. If I have a pink sugar cookie (something I obviously place more than $.75 value on) and someone comes to me with a Snickers bar that cost them $.75, they will have to keep looking, since I value a Snickers bar at about $.10. If I have that same cookie, and someone comes to me with a dozen hot, fresh Krispy Kremes, I will be the glad, (temporary) owner of a very happy, very satisfied full stomach, and I will hope they enjoy their new cookie. The opportunity cost of trading with the guy with the KKs is the cost of keeping my cookie, which up to this point was the "best" alternative. It was NOT the cost of a Snickers bar, since I don't want the Snickers bar. However, if the next guy in line is willing (for whatever reason) to trade me a Ducati for my pink sugar cookie, the opportunity cost of owning those KKs becomes _much_ higher.

So lets talk about gas. Just like my single pink sugar cookie, gas is a scarce resource. Once the oil field is dry, that's it. So now, I have a limited amount of gas, and 500 million people are willing to pay me $1 per gallon for it. If I charge more, I will sell less and my opportunity cost is obvious. I have surplus gas, and less money. Now, 15 years later, I still have gas (perhaps not as much as before) and 2 billion people are willing to pay me $3 per gallon for it. My opportunity cost for selling at more or less than where my willingness to supply meets their willingness to buy is high on both sides. If I sell for less, I run out because more people will buy more gas. If I sell for more, I don't sell as much and my profits go down. Yet again, plain and simple. On the other side of the transaction I, as one of those 2 billion people who want gas, have to make an opportunity cost-based choice. The cost of buying that gas is very simple: $3 per gallon. The cost of not buying the gas is also fairly simple: I have to walk to school (for reasons other than exercise) or the grocery store. Or I don't get to go to Newport this fall. A trip to Disneyland and beautiful Newport and Laguna beach is a high opportunity cost indeed compared to $3 per gallon for gas. But that's what it boils down to: I want the trip and the memories, or the convenience of taking a car to the grocery store, more than I want the money. So I pay $3 per gallon for gas.

Economics is no mystery. If I am willing to pay for an item, then I get what I paid for. If I am not willing to pay, I keep my money and go without that item. Sure, the money we pay for gas buys man-made ski resorts in the middle of the Arabian desert. But that's only because we want the gas more than we want our money, and they want our money more than they want their gas. Even with the inefficiencies inherent in the concept of the internal combustion engine it would be possible to build vehicles that are much more efficient than the ones you generally see on the road today. But they would be much more expensive than what we currently drive (tolerances would need to be tighter, etc) and we want our money more than we want a car that costs 5x as much, but gets double the mileage and the auto manufacturers want to sell 50 cars at $25000 more than they want to sell 2 cars at $100000.

So please people, stop the madness. The reason gas is $3.50 per gallon is not because somebody is taking advantage of us, or because the auto industry lobbies to prevent research on alternative fuels/technologies, or because the President was unable to "lower fuel costs" (how he would do that himself is a mystery indeed). It is because that TV that came from Japan or Korea cost a lot of money to ship, and we want the TV more than we want our money. It is because we want to travel and see the world more than we want our money. It is because many millions more people would also like to travel, or spend money on goods that we produce. In short, gas is $3.50 per gallon because we are willing to pay $3.50 per gallon for it. So next time you think about forwarding an email blaming the Arabs, or the oil companies, or the president, or the little purple men from Mars for high gas prices, do the world a favor and just delete it.

And now I will step down from the pulpit and get back to my multi-threaded webserver...

Couldn't wait for Wednesday...

2008-05-13T09:21:00.002-06:00

I have only one word. NICE.

These guys are geniuses. I think we'd be friends.

Picasso was a wise, wise man.

2008-05-11T21:01:00.004-06:00

Isaac Newton once said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

My dad once sat my brother and I down and said, "Boys, you want to know the secret to being successful in life? Win if you can; lose if you must; but no matter what happens, always cheat."

Pablo Picasso once said, "Bad artists copy, great artists steal."

Now before you all go crazy, let me explain what my dad meant. (If you want to question Picasso's quote, you can take it up with him someday) Dad was not talking about dishonest cheating. He simply meant to do what it takes, and don't be afraid to use "unorthodox" methods, and I think that unbenknownst to him, my dad really hit on the secret mentioned by Newton and Picasso.

Let me elaborate. Who, in the entire history of the world, has created something useful without some idea that there was something useful to be created? Newton's work in physics and math was the result of a lifetime of studying Pythagorus, Archimedes, and hosts of others who had gone before him. Picasso undoubtedly had his fair share of favorite pieces of others before him. Tolkien and Lewis had centuries of myths, legends and old wives tales that they had studied and read. Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and the rest of the good folks at AT&T had previous operating systems before them when they wrote Unix. Even "the Steves" (Jobs and Wozniak) had predecessors when the Apple and Apple II were born.

So where is the line between the good artist and the bad one? What is the difference between copying and stealing? I think that line is drawn by our own individual effort. Recently I posted about some idiot in Argentina who copied my friend's blog. There was no effort involved there, a few wget commands, some bad English-to-Spanish translation, and poof!! "check out my cool website everybody". I'll use Nicole as an opposite example. Nicole loves art. And photography. A lot. Nicole is an excellent photographer. She didn't become so by following some pro around and pointing her camera at the same things he did. She became an excellent photographer by, "learning how things will look as a picture, before I take the picture."

I'm currently taking a network programming class. Many of the concepts are pretty much foreign to me, and I've been spending _a lot_ of time on Wikipedia, Google, and in various reference documentation websites. I've "borrowed" lots of code snippets from various locations. I've long since learned the difference between copying and stealing when it comes to code. If you copy code and your program ever breaks, it will be in one of two places: on the border between your code and the code you copied, or in the code you copied. Both of these bugs result in copying code that you don't understand into your program. So I spend lots of time tinkering, modifying the code that I'm "stealing" in various ways to find out how it works, why it does what it does under certain conditions, and therefore figuring out how it _should_ be used in _my_ code rather than dropping it in as-is and praying that it will work.

So, in response to a recent blog entry by Nicole, what is inspiration? A lot of effort involved in turning someone else's previous work into your own original work. The magnitude of originality may in some cases be limited by scope: there's only so many ways in one programming language to implement the ages old, "Hello, World!" program.

So, if I follow Nicole around a little while we're up the canyon taking pictures, she'd notice that instead of taking just one picture of what I think she's taking, I was taking 10 or 15 with various shutter-speeds (I'm keeping things to one variable right now) to see what happened. When Newton figured out the notion that the slope of a curve at a given point is the derivative, he was using his own knowledge of previous mathematicians and physicists. Because everything, in its own little way, is art.

Almost there...

2008-04-23T00:44:00.002-06:00

I am almost finished. I've taken both CS finals (312 and 340), my guitar final, and my Old Testament final. Thanks to a merciful professor I have a summer to complete the projects that I got _very_ far behind on when I got sick.

But this darn Physical Science final won't go away by itself. It's funny. A class that under normal circumstances I would ace easily (I got 98 on the first midterm, before I got sick), consequently turned into the class that I quit going to in order to not get any farther behind in my (more important) CS classes (since you can use your final exam score as your grade in the class).

I've read half a semester worth of lecture slides tonight. I'll probably get through most of the second half before I go to bed. Tomorrow I'll be reading the book. And when I say, "reading the book", I mean the whole book. 36 chapters. And then taking the final. What should have been one of the easiest A's of my life has turned into, "This will take a miracle, and I'll take whatever I can get."

Ah the wonderful life of a student. bleh.

Not-so-random thought Thursday:

2008-04-10T23:03:00.002-06:00

I have 5 projects.

I have 5 days.
I have to work in Windows.
That is not my amused face.

The Lunch of Champions

2008-04-04T12:31:00.003-06:00

Sometimes when Nicole has stuff to do I get to stay on campus all day. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because at my office or in the CS laptop lab I have an extra monitor to plug in to and I can get lots done with few interruptions. The only problem is that it sometimes gets a little hungry, because the only food I keep at my office these days is some oatmeal that I have for breakfast when I work in the mornings on Tues. and Thurs.

Enter the economics of choosing a cheap, filling lunch that can provide enough calories to last several hours and taste good enough that I want to eat it. If you believe everything you see on TV, a Snickers bar is the perfect answer, except for two problems. First, I can't stand nuts, or any food that contains them. Second, at $0.65 or so the cost/calorie ratio, while not too bad, is literally blown out of the water by the "real" lunch of coding champions: The Granny B's pink sugar cookie.

Your average candy bar has a calorie content of between 150 and 200, so we'll say the average is around 175. at $0.65, that's about 2.7 calories per cent. Now some of you will look at that wonderful pink sugar cookie's package and say, "That's only 113 calories." And that would be because you forgot to look at the serving size: 1/4 cookie. That's right, baby: 452 delicious calories in that marvel of baking ingenuity. At $0.75 in the bookstore, or $0.80 in the vending machines here on campus you have either 6 cents per calorie or 5.65 cents per calorie, respectively.

Add to that a bottle of delicious whole milk (a delicacy I don't get to enjoy much these days), and you have a 602 calorie lunch (enough fuel for about 6-7 hours of programming before I start to get hungry again) for a grand total of $1.50.

I know some of you (Nicole?) are rolling your eyes right about now, but if you can find me a better tasting, healthy lunch that I can get anywhere on campus for $1.50, I'll eat that instead.

Where have all the "real" hackers gone?

2008-04-03T15:02:00.004-06:00

A real hacker is a special kind of person. I'm not talking about the idiot crackers and script-kiddies that break in to networks and who turn your neighboor's great-aunt's computer into a spyware-infested, slower-than-cold-tar bot-net slave. While I'm not in the same hacking universe as a "real" hacker (people like Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Steve Wozniak, etc...), I like to think of myself as a budding hacker. If I want to learn about something, I start digging through the documentation, source code, whatever I can find. When I see something cool in a website, I'll take a look at the source and see if I can figure out how it works. When I discovered an un-implemented feature in the port of my favorite text editor to Apple's Cocoa Framework, I started going through the source to find where I need to add the code that will make it work. (this got side-shelved by the demands of school, but I'll finish it off this summer)

Part of this is a natural curiosity for how things work. Part of it is the fact that I now have the knowledge to make some semblance of sanity of quite a lot of the 1's and 0's that make the world run these days (given time to look through it).

Given this curiosity, when I got to work today to see everyone gathered around my buddy's computer, I naturally came over to see what was going on. Much to my surprise, it turns out that some lazy-assed idiot has cloned Justin's extremely slick, one-of-a-kind website. (trust me, it actually _is_ one-of-a-kind). Not cloned as in copied the source code, modified it so it's the same but different. Not cloned as in copied the whole thing to his own server and replaced images, blurbs, etc. with his own material. Cloned as in sucking the content off of Justin's server, changing the font, and translating the blurbs to Spanish. Cloned as in using the exact same javascript file from its location on Justin's server. Justin is in the middle of some "minor retaliation", so don't be surprised if there is a little "addition" to the slacker's page if you go look at it. And don't be surprised, Mr. Sebastian Lazy-pants if your web presence takes a turn for the worse... There's an amusing little anecdote to this here.

What the heck? What ever happened to, "gee, I wonder how that works...", or, "hmm, I wonder what I could do with that..." ???? If you're going to go through the trouble of copy/cloning somebody's work, it's not that much trouble to learn how it works and make it your own, with a little note saying, "Thanks to Justin for the ideas".

I just can't understand that way of thinking...

It's working! It's working!

2008-03-18T12:44:00.002-06:00

For those of you reading my blog who are Mac users, this may interest you. I've been beating my head on a way to have iCal tell me nicely when I have a deadline coming up, and I finally got a working solution this morning. You can read about it on my other blog if you are so inclined.

Found this quite interesting...

2008-03-16T20:08:00.002-06:00

An interesting awareness test. Try it out.

Make sure to let it go all the way to the end. And if you comment, don't ruin the fun for those who haven't yet.

One down, many more to go...

2008-03-15T23:27:00.005-06:00

Well, it's all here. For those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about, let me fill you in on some details.

I hate shaving. My mom took me to Wal-Mart when I was 12 or 13 and we bought me a razor, and I was pretty dang cool. I was only shaving peach fuzz, but it was cool. Then I went to Basic Training. There, if you weren't satisfactorily shaven, a drill sergeant would hand you a Bic disposable razor, and you'd dry shave on the spot. Now there is a very good reason for soldiers to be clean shaven. If you have all kinds of scruff on your face and neck, your protective mask won't seal and gas can get in. So I shaved every night. I wasn't too concerned about the fact that I got about a billion razor bumps and ingrown hairs every day because it wasn't to big of a deal compared to the 120 degree, 90% humidity days at the range, but I quickly lost whatever remains of the "it's cool to shave" idea that had survived the previous 6 years.

Then I went on a mission. 2 more years of shaving every day, with all the accompanying razor bumps and ingrown hairs. By this point I just assumed that it was normal and happened to everyone. I resigned myself to the dragging feeling of 17-bladed razors and figured I was in for a lifetime of hating shaving. So when I got home from my mission, I adopted a "shave for church" policy. That was okay for the next few years, but I still hated shaving. Then a couple of years ago when I started working on campus, I had to adopt a "shave on Wednesday and Sunday" policy, and I still hated shaving. That was when I introduced the policy of a "vacation beard". Whenever I'm away from my on-campus job for more than a week, I just grow a beard until I get back. Now I am totally in favor of this, but Nicole is _not_ a fan. We're talking less of a fan than I am of shaving. Did I mention I _hate_ shaving?

Well. A few weeks ago, I guy I know on a Unix mailing list mentioned he had bought a new shaving brush, soap, and double-edged safety razor (the kind that uses old-school razor blades). Now this didn't come as too much of a surprise from a guy who makes his own soap, but he linked a couple of articles about old-school shaving. Being the curious person I am, I started clicking through them, and was somewhat surprised to learn that it is indeed possible to shave and not get bumps and ingrown hairs by the gazillions. I was also _very_ surprised to learn that there are people who shave and like it.

There had to be something to this. So I started looking around some more and learned that double-edged razor blades sell for about $5 for a pack of 10. That beats the tar out of the $38 I paid for my last pack of 16 blades for my Fusion. So, I decided to give it a try. I made an early investment of my birthday present from us and bought a decent shaving brush and some Italian shaving cream called Proraso. Much better. The brush and decent shaving cream reduced my bumps and ingrown hairs by a drastic amount. Not to mention making shaving a much more relaxing experience. The blades still drag, and I actually notice much quicker when my razor blades are getting dull. So now the Fusion by comparison with the brush and cream is really starting to suck. I can shave 3 or 4 times before I have to use a new blade, 5 or 6 if I'm wearing my patient pants.

So I started looking a lot harder at safety razors and where to get good blades for them, when I came across a link to a website called StraightRazorPlace. Now this was really something I could get on board with. Most of you who know me know I like knives, axes, basically anything with blade. Some of you will remember me sitting in church sharpening my knife after we finished with the sacrament in my younger days. So let me see if I got this right. High quality steel blade, never have to buy razor blades again, and if the good folks at StraightRazorPlace were to be believed, a closer, longer-lasting shave than with my old multi-bladed nemesis. So I ordered a straight razor, a leather and linen strop, and a 3 micron, 8000 grit diamond plate to hone my new friend on. They all arrived, and last night, after a little work on the edge, I had my first try at a _really_ old school shave.

It turns out that sharpening a razor to shave my Brillo pad face with is a whole different story than sharpening anything else. It also turns out that there will be some serious learning curve to follow. But, on my cheeks where the easy part is, I'm quite impressed. I only nicked myself twice, and those were minor ones that had stopped bleeding by the time I finished shaving. This does not count all the razor bumps I shaved off from Wednesday's shave, but I'll just wait a few more days for the next time to let all the aftermath of my 5-blades at a time shave go away. This evening, following some instructions by on of the gurus at another old-school-shaving website, BadgerAndBlade (because good shaving brushes are made of badger hair) I touched up my razor a little more. So now I will wait patiently for a few more days, and give it another shot.

The end. (at least for a couple days)

Priceless Moments In Algorithm Analysis...

2008-03-10T13:52:00.003-06:00

I'm currently taking CS 312: Algorithms Analysis. This is quite a class, as we deal with how efficiently computers solve problems, and how well that efficiency holds up as the size of the problem increases. It's largely theoretical, although the projects give us a chance to flex our newly-found algorithmic muscles. Despite the fact that we deal most of the time in abstract, gnarly math that most mere mortals would never need to know exist, I like the class.

This morning, we were talking about using a system called Dynamic Programming to determine to optimal sequence in which to perform a chain of matrix multiplications. Why? you ask? Let's just say that the computer-generated graphics that make Yoda a star depend on it critically.

Anyways, we were about 3/4 of the way through the algorithm, and were talking about how many computations it would take to determine all cells in a diagonal of our resulting optimal solution. And, without further ado, I give you our Priceless Moment In Algorithms Analysis:

Dr. R*: "So we can see where we're getting our optimal solutions from, now we need a simple explanation."

Me (dryly): "At this point in this class, we've gone far beyond the realm of simple explanations."

Dr. R* and everyone else: lots of laughter

Dr. R*: "How about layers of simple explanations"

Me: "We'll buy that."

In Summary: I love what I do.

It's that time of year again...

2008-03-09T23:40:00.005-06:00

Last night I had a devil of a time getting to sleep. Perhaps it was an omen that my cell phone clock would not update with the time change and I'd miss church (which happened, by the way). There are many more "perhaps-es" that I could list, but one of them has been growing more and more annoying. My long, gnarly, brillo-pad-ish hair was curling around into my ears, and even tickling my jawbone.

It's getting warmer, and even though it's almost certain to snow again, the combination of annoying sleep prevention and lack of need for cold-weather insulation indicated that it was time for a hair cut. I'm not a huge fan of paying someone else to cut my hair, so I almost always (except when Nicole really puts her foot down) cut it myself. A few pics for your viewing amusement:

My hat fits much better again now.

A funnier tribute to Gary has never been paid...

2008-03-07T00:39:00.002-07:00

And probably will never.
Nicole even laughed. I was so proud.

Change of plans...

2008-03-05T01:37:00.002-07:00

I was going to blog tonight about something I'll never understand, but I just saw some sad news. Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, died today. Just thought I'd tell ya'll, since I know you're all so into DnD...

Anyway, just for kicks and in honor of Gary, I think I'll go roll my d20. If it rolls higher than 10 I'll go to bed. If not, I'll do some more homework.

P.S. to my post the other day about anti-biotics.

2008-03-02T02:42:00.002-07:00

It's also amazing that a lot of antibiotics can kill not only bronchitis, but enough of the normal bacteria in your body to make you grow mold on your tongue. Lots of it. And it kinda sneaks up on you because for the first day or two it just feels like your mouth and tongue are really dry. Weird, eh? I'm having all kinds of new experiences these days...

So if your doctor prescribes you Azithromycin, eat lots of yogurt.

Finally, something new and exciting...

2008-03-02T02:15:00.003-07:00

Some of you (who have never had a programming project deadline) are probably wondering why I'm blogging at 2:15 in the morning, while my poor, sweet, sick wifey is sleeping peacefully in the other room. Well, I'll tell you.

To start with, I was the weak link in our little group for this group project deadline because I was sick and missed the 2 class periods that would have been the most helpful for this particular project. Consequently, I finished my part last (as you can see, about 2 hours after the midnight deadline). Since I had a Mountain Dew at around 9, and a box of marshmallow peeps that lasted until about midnight-thirty, I need a second to unwind (and think about my Sunday School lesson tomorrow that I haven't looked at yet).

But more importantly, I had a brand new experience yesterday (Friday, which I guess that's 2 yesterdays, since it's Sunday now). Many of you who know me will know that I'm not usually very antsy about spending a couple of bucks. If I buy something that was not very expensive and I don't like it or if it doesn't work out, I consider it a few dollar lesson. I have never in my life felt like I "wasted" a few bucks. Until Friday. Let me elaborate. I like fantasy. I like mythology. I am one of the few people you'll meet that thinks the original story of Beowulf (translated at least into middle-english for clarity) is a good read. So, when I saw a trailer for the movie Beowulf, I thought it might be kinda fun and I'd give it a shot. Nicole was going to "The Other Boelyn Girl" with some friends, so I'd mosey down to the Red Box and pick it up.

OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!!!! There is no other way to describe that movie than as lame-@%#-ed. I know some of you who will read this don't swear, so I pseudo-disguised it. But seriously. It actually followed one version of the story that I read a while back fairly closely, for about an hour. At which time I had had enough. Much more than enough. I've never encountered laziness and lame-osity (and just plain weirdness) on that kind of scale. I have no clue what the heck the producers of that show were thinking.

Producer-guy A: "Hey guys, do you think we could sell a movie that was done in video-game animation? We could get a couple decent actors (Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie) and spend a lot of rendering time on the trailer, so people would think it's only partially animated, and then we could suck up the rest of the movie and see if it actually works... Hey, pass me that joint. And another beer."

Producer-guy B: "Dude, what a good idea. Most of the people in our target audience haven't watched movies like Star Wars, or the Lord of the Rings, which use good animation, so no worries, they won't know that we're slacking off on their time and money... And quit asking to steal my high. We'll need all the marijuana we can get to talk any half-decent actor not to sue our pants of when they see what we do to their character. Hey, animation guy, what do you think?"

Animation Producer: "Whoah. There's like, all kinds of sparklies in the air. And when I wave my hand, it makes trails. Do you guys have any food? I'm hungry."

Seriously, folks, for the first time in my life I felt like I wasted a dollar. One dollar. I have spent a dollar on a new kind of pop that I didn't like, and not cared. I've spent 2 or 3 bucks on energy drinks that were nasty as heck, and not cared. I have never not finished an action movie. I've watched (and liked) action movies that received abysmal ratings (Fast and the Furious, XXX) But dang. This was a whole slough of firsts for me. I still can't believe it. I've almost lost my faith in action movies, like that I might start paying some small attention to ratings. And now I'm getting tired.

Ah, BYU

2008-02-27T11:03:00.004-07:00

This card from Indexed marks one of the reasons I like BYU a lot. I once found my Ipaq at the lost and found here.

Musical Alphabet

2008-02-24T18:04:00.004-07:00

So, I know that there are some of you who think I never update my blog. And you're very nearly right. The other day I was thinking about how much music has played a part in my life, and I spied on Nicole preparing her "Alphabet of Favorites". I was told not to do an alphabet game before she did hers, so now here goes my alphabet of favorite songs:

A = All Along the Watchtower, by Jimi Hendrix
B = Blaze of Glory, by Bon Jovi && Bringin' On the Heartbreak, by Def Leppard
C = Can't Stop Loving You, by Van Halen
D = D'Yer Mak'er, by Led Zeppelin
E = Every Breath You Take, by The Police
F = Free Bird, by Lynrd Skynrd
G = Gel, by Collective Soul && Gone Shootin', by AC-DC
H = HeartBreaker, by Pat Benatar
I = It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, by The Rolling Stones
J = Janie's Got a Gun, by Aerosmith
K = Kickstart My Heart, by Motley Crue, && Knockin' On Heaven's Door, by Guns 'n' Roses
L = Layla, by Eric Clapton (at the time he was part of Derek and the Dominoes)
M = Mary Jane's Last Dance, by Tom Petty && Moby Dick, by Led Zeppelin
N = Nighttrain, by Guns 'n' Roses
O = Over the Hills and Far Away, by Led Zeppelin && Octopus's Garden, by The Beatles
P = Planet of Women, by ZZ Top && Paperback Writer, by The Beatles
Q = Killer Queen, by Queen -- gimme a break, Q? It's a miracle there's a decent song with a word that starts with Q in the title.
R = Ramble On, by Led Zeppelin
S = Sweet Child o' Mine, by Guns 'n' Roses & Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin
T = Texas Flood, by Stevie Ray Vaughan
U = Unchained Melody, by The Righteous Bros
V = Voodoo Child (Slight Return), by Jimi Hendrix
W = When the Children Cry, by White Lion && While My Guitar Gently Weeps, by The Beatles
X = Extreme Ways, by Moby -- again, gimme a break, eh?
Y = You Give Love A Bad Name, by Bon Jovi
Z = Zombie, by The Cranberries. -- Yes I know, but I like the song, what can I say?

Isn't it amazing???

2008-02-16T17:15:00.002-07:00

What a little antibiotics can do? Ok, so a lot of antibiotics, but still.

I actually had some real food today.

The amount of blood that I coughed up in the shower this morning was about a third what it has been.

I haven't had a fever at all today.

I changed my blog, so you can all dig in for another little while.

Now this is a functional website...

2008-01-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

You'd think that after years of dealing with the same start-of-semester rush of website usage, and several semesters of statements that upgrades are being done to allow greater utilization during said rush, that the organization in charge of a website could be prepared for said rush.

Well, you'd be wrong. At least in the case of the BYU website. The above pictures are screenshots taken about 15 minutes apart while I was trying to check my progress report to see if I need to change my schedule before tomorrow. The astute observer will notice that the progress meter in the lower left of the window says, "Done". The second one indeed looks done, but the astute observer will also notice that the _one_ thing I need right now is missing. That's right, no log in button. I don't care if that's the only thing that shows up on the entire screen, that one little button is the only thing I need right now. Way to prioritize, OIT.

Now you may ask, isn't there another way? And at first glance it appears that there is. By trying to directly access the page/service I want, I get this nifty page, which at first glance looks like it will let me log in and take care of business.
But after entering my login info, I am miraculously led straight back to the _exact_ _same_ _page_!!!
Oh, and that outlined link at the top of the page that presumably leads back to the BYU homepage? It goes to:
Again, hats off to BYU's Office of Information Technology. So the old website wasn't "pretty" or whatever they thought they were gaining by changing it. At least it worked.

This is a different situation...

2007-12-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

For what may be the first time in our whole marriage, I find myself in a very interesting situation. I (who since getting married have been a night-time showerer) showered this morning. The strange thing about it is not that I showered, but the fact that my most recent shower is several hours (14 give or take) more recent than that of my compulsively hygienic, sweet wife. Very strange. I checked outside and the sky hasn't fallen. Hmmm.... So very strange...

(almost) Wordless Wednesday - Which is worse?

2007-12-19T10:25:00.001-07:00

...

Bus error, or the fact that my source control repository doesn't contain my last several hundred lines of code changes? I'll let you decide...

The last week of class...

2007-12-17T22:17:00.001-07:00

Since the deadline for submitting work was last Thursday (the last day of class), I'm sure you're all dying to know the story of yet another coding marathons. So here are the official stats from last week, starting Monday morning and ending Thursday at around 11:00 PM.

Hours of sleep: 8
Hours programming: 50
Cans of Mountain Dew: 6
Cans of Sobe Adrenaline Rush: 3
Cans of Red Bull: 2
Pushups (another stay awake tactic): 320
Protein energy bars: 2
Real sit-down meals: 2
Lines of code written: somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 (I started one project completely over at about 4:30 Thursday morning.

Some pictures:

In the beginning (well, Tuesday morning):
After 24 hours (Wednesday morning):
After 48 hours (Thursday morning):
After 60 hours (Thursday night):

Yes, I was very wired, but due to an increase in physical activity since the last time I participated in this kind of insanity my resting heart rate stayed below 86. Last time I even scared myself as after about 50 hours my resting heart rate never dropped below about 100.

Oh the weather outside is getting more frightful by the day...

2007-12-10T10:16:00.001-07:00

At least for a few days...

Perspective

2007-12-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

I am a schemer. I am also a horse-trader. Whenever my dad or I would say to the other, "I'll make you a deal..." my mom would leave the room and tell us to let her know how it shook down when we were done wheeling and dealing.

I also love a good project. Whenever I started thinking to myself (usually out loud, because I do that), "I wonder if I could..." Nicole rolls her eyes at me, usually so hard I wonder if they are going to roll right on across the floor at me.

I am a very curious person. When I discover something I like or am interested in, I study it. I do research on the internet, read books, talk to people who are knowledgeable on the subject, and pretty much every other thing I can to learn about it and/or become better at it. This is a sub-feature of my "project-ivity" that also causes some eye-rolling around here.

I'm also not very patient. I can watch a hillside for hours waiting for a woodchuck to show his little rat head, but when it comes to waiting months or years for something, I quickly reach my limit. And then I have a project on which to scheme. Perfect.

My bike was just such a project. It began with a realization: since I'm in school, I no longer have time to boulder for hours ever day. Then it was realized by a horse trade. I traded my brother I snowboard that I had purchased with the intent to learn how to ride it, but also didn't have the time or money for, and a rock-climbing hangboard for a Liahona Mission bike. Then I started to do my research. Being fairly mechanically-minded, it didn't take me long to recognize the features of higher-end bikes that make them higher-end bikes, and superior to my Liahona. Then I started scheming. I scrounged, saved (usually not for too long, see impatience, above) and started buying upgrade parts. New handlebars, stem, pedals, and fork made a noticeable difference in ride quality and comfort, and finally my birthday came around and made possible a horse-trade-ish deal. I found a new, lighter frame on eBay. It was listed at $90, which was $10 more than I had managed to save, but being impatient and scheming, I watched it anyway until it closed without receiving any bids, at which time I contacted the seller and asked if he'd take $80 for it. He agreed, and even better, said he was driving from Vernal to Salt Lake City that very afternoon and could drop the frame off so I wouldn't have to pay shipping. Perfect. I started with a $400 bike, and through scheming and slow project-izing (I've since replaced the handlebar yet again, the pedals yet again, and the saddle) I have a bike that would spec out at around $900 sold new. It's not a full-suspension bike, which means around here I'm still in for a rough, slow ride everywhere I go, but it'll do.

The reason I tell you all this is because I had a flash of perspective the other day, which led (surprise surprise) to a new project, and some more scheming. I realized something. I've spent 3 years and lots of brain cycles on my bike. Don't get me wrong here, I've enjoyed that bike immensely and will continue to leave patches of skin cells scattered around the hills and canyons anywhere I can get a chance. However, this is a sport that I can only enjoy for about 4, maybe 5 months of the year. I've also realized, in this same flash of perspective, that I'm not likely to be in as good shape any time in the near future (at leas while I'm a student) as I was 10 years ago. Spending time with Nicole is way too high on my priority list (and time in the weight room too low, because of the opportunity cost factor) for this to happen. So on to my new project.

Some of you may know that I play the guitar, and even fewer of you may know that once upon a time I was quite good. In yet another horse-trade, a little over 4 years ago I traded my electric guitar for a Pocket PC, which was incalculably valuable to me in my job back then. However, this means I have been electric guitar-less for almost 5 years. That is much, much too long. In my flash of perspective the other day, I also realized that playing my guitar is a perfect way to unwind for a few minutes when every thing looks like a semi-colon, or I can't tell which bracket closes which block of code any more because the whole world looks like mono-spaced text.

So I'd like to introduce you all to the new scheming, horse-trading, impatient project: the Fender Highway One Telecaster.

I've never owned a Telecaster before, but I've played a few, and owned a couple other kinds of electric guitars. The telecaster has a very unique sound that I really like, and the fact that Jimmy Page played a telecaster on "Stairway to Heaven" is a definite bonus. The guitar solo from "Stairway" is my favorite sounding guitar of all time. I now have a new project. And so I'm saving. And scheming. And, of course, impatient.

Some Telecaster highlights I patched together from the Fender Highway One website.

Ah, mutated MormonAds

2007-11-30T01:17:00.000-07:00

Remember those MormonAds that you used to see all the time? Well, Divine Comedy (a comedy group at BYU) has really had a good time with them. I think this was about the funniest one:

And the results are in...

2007-11-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know you've all been anxiously waiting for the results of my little contest, so here they are.

1. With 1.5 points, my Dad.
2. With 1.33 points, my Mother, and my sweet wife, Nicole
3. With 1 point, Insanity, Mari, and Bob

So, I know you're all wanting to know what the answers are, so here ya go:

1. I have never performed CPR on a human being. Lots of training dummies, but no people
2. I gave varying degrees of partial credit for this one: First, they are saying that you need to know how to protect your PC, but they are using a picture of an Apple MacBook Pro with the luminous apple photoshopped out. They are saying that you need to protect your PC from viruses and spyware, but Macs don't suffer from viruses and spyware. Finally they mention that you should get anti-virus software, when there is only one company that makes anti-virus for Mac and it sucks. So there you have it.
3. "What is and what should never be" is the title of one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. I'll play it for ya sometime if ya remind me.

What is and what should never be...

2007-11-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

So today I saw a funny article on the Popular Mechanics website. 25 things a man should know how to do.
While I can think of a few things on the list that I wouldn't necessarily have on such a list, and a few not there that should have been, it was fun. Incidentally, I know how to do all of them, and have actually done all but one. So now we're going to have a little game, the winner of which will get a prize, determined by me when I see who wins. The game will consist of 3 questions.

1. Name the thing on the list (there's only 1 of the 25) that I haven't actually done.
2. The picture above is a screenshot of one of the items. There is something seriously wrong with it. Name what that wrong thing is.
3. What is the significance of the title of this post?

You may post your answers in comments, as I'm not the best blog keeper-upper in the world. Good luck.

Visitors...

2007-10-30T18:38:00.000-06:00

We recently (last weekend) enjoyed a visit by Natalie, Jay and the munchkins. Despite the fact that I am bogged down in the middle of a semester and spent a good chunk of the time on campus or in our office room working on projects, it was great to have them. Nicole had someone to talk chick-stuff to, I watched most of Eragon with Jay (Nicole won't watch that and many other movies that I like) and I was constantly amused by 2 and 4-year-old-isms. Every morning when I got up, and when I came home from school, or when I came out of the office after a while, I was greeted by Chelsea's cheerful little, "Hi Awix!" Every so often while working on my projects, Jayden would wander by and say, "What your doing, Awix?" That, combined with his cheerful, "Hey! What your name is?" when my Mom stopped by with our pumpkins, took me back to my (much) younger days growing up on Army bases and hearing the same kind of phrasing from my (older than Jayden) friends.

We had a great time while they were here. Nicole and I introduced Natalie and Jay to "Munchkin", our current favorite time-sink, we watched a couple of movies together, and Jay brought some of his tasty chili. So thanks for coming guys, and come back any time.

Some of my favorite pics from the visit:

Chelsea finally tolerating my presence because "the wittle puppy show" was on:
Jayden knows good footwear when he sees it (when you're that small it doesn't matter which foot you put them on)
Clearly this is someone who knows what is coming next...
Who doesn't like cupcake batter?

Better late than never...

2007-08-30T23:07:00.000-06:00

Well, Nicole and Natalie have pretty much covered the Newport Beach trip this year, so I'll just say that any week I have 2 gyros at the Mad Greek in Baker is a good week, even when I'm sick for half of it. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the trip.

I'm rather proud of my steady hand.
This was a 1 second shutter opening just before the fireworks.
Ostensibly a "tame" ride, those rocket ships can pull some serious G's if you go all the way up and then head for the deck as fast as you can drop.
For good reason, Mater is probably my favorite character from Cars.
Apparently Chelsea likes him too: "Mater, a-funny Mater"
Believe it or not, Sleeping Beauty's Castle is one of my favorite sights at Disneyland.
Jayden sure loved his Mickey Ears Hat, not to mention the carousel.
Chelsea and I both love It's a Small World. And look how we're wearing matching shirts...
Me and an old friend.
Someday I'm going to build and program my own R2-D2 to clean up after me.
I like naps, although it appears that Chelsea didn't quite get the concept...
The Tallest One (Nicole's Grandma L*) got a kick out of my signature vacation facial hair.

Warning!

2007-08-05T18:22:00.000-06:00

While we were in St. George for our anniversary we made a small trip to the bike shop. While talking to one of the guys there I learned that what I thought was a relatively harmless crack in the shell of my helmet could be very dangerous, and that any time a helmet takes a significant impact it should be replaced. So I picked up a new helmet.

The fun part started when I began reading the manual that came with it, and the warning stickers on the inside. Some examples:

WARNING: No protective headgear can protect the helmet wearer against all foreseeable impacts.

So don't get shot in the head while wearing this helmet?

Your helmet will not protect against injury in all types of accidents. Even while wearing a helmet, low speed accidents may result in serious head injury or death.

Yeah, so go faster and you won't get hurt as bad?

Because every accident scenario is different, it is impossible to know whether use of a helmet will provide partial or complete protection. Studies have shown that you are better off with a helmet than without one.

"You might live through it" is better than "You won't live through it" after all.

WARNING: Do not take risks just because you are wearing a helmet.

Don't be stupid.

Note: The useful life of your helmet may be less than five years as a result of exposure to sunlight, rough handling/storage that results in dents or cuts or as a result of heavy use.

I guess. I'm on my 3rd helmet in 3 years.

And finally, my two favorites.

A bicycle helmet does not protect what it doesn't cover, and as noted it may not protect what it does cover. A bicycle helmet will not protect against injuries to the spine, neck, or face.

We make no guarantees. At all.

WARNING: A bicycle helmet is for bicycling only! Always wear a helmet when bicycling. When you get off your bicycle, remove your helmet. Do not wear a helmet while climbing trees, in play areas, on playground equipment, or, at any time while not riding a bicycle. Adults: Instruct children to follow this warning. Failure to follow this warning could result in serious injury, death by strangulation, death.

A: Apparently sombody sued because their 10-year-old fell off the merry-go-round while still wearing his bike helmet and died anyway. B: Apparently death by strangulation is not as bad as death.

My own little artistic touch...

2007-07-29T00:04:00.000-06:00

Yes, Alex can take a picture also. Here are a few of my favorites from our little anniversary trip.

The last 4 years

2007-07-26T22:45:00.000-06:00

Well, Nicole and I got married 4 years ago today. Most of you have probably read her blog today, which pretty much sums us up. Most people who knew us both separately before we were married thought we were both crazy. Most people who knew her and met me thought she was crazy. Most people who knew me and met her thought I was crazy. Crazy or not, the last 4 years have been the best of my life. We've both had to give up a few things, and pick up a few things, and given that we are both in school we don't always have the time/resources to do things that we'd really like to do or that we grew up doing, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Here are a few pics from the last 4 years.

The big day:

My first trip to Hawai'i:

A new world for Nicole:

A new world for me:

One of our favorite places to be:

It's been lots of fun. Luv ya babe.

Senior year thingey...

2007-07-18T13:02:00.000-06:00

I thought everyone that reads both my blog and Nicole's would get a kick out of this...
1. Who was your favorite teacher? I'd probably have to say my band teacher Mr. Sorbe (aka "Sir") I played the bass guitar for our jazz/pep band and my brother the drums, and every now and then Sir would bust out the trombone and man, that guy can get down. The whole class except me, my brother, and Sir would be laughing their heads off (Nathan and I usually were too, but you can play drums and bass guitar while laughing).
2. Were you considered a flirt? I had a girlfriend who lived 250 miles away in Pleasant Grove, so not so much. Plus, most of the girls I would have flirted with had already dogged me by then, and I spent most of my time in the weight room so I'd have to say no.

3. Who was your best friend? My guitar, my gun and my dog Kane. The closest thing to a best friend I had was Sherri, the sister of the guys I worked with.

4. What did you drive? I drove a '76 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton with a 400 horsepower big-block or my mom's little Chevy Spectrum, which went some places it had no business being able to go...

5. What sports did you play? I wrestled and ran the 100 and 400 meter dash. I would have done cross-country and played football but my high school didn't have either.
6. It's Friday night, where are you? In the fall, out shooting or camping. In the winter or spring, going to bed early because I usually had a very early, very long bus ride to a wrestling tournament or track meet on Saturday morning.
7. Were you in the band, orchestra, or chorus? I was in the concert band (I played the baritone), and the jazz/pep band (I played the guitar and bass guitar). I was the bane of the orchestra teacher's existence, and she probably wouldn't have let me in the orchestra if I had wanted to be.

8. Where did you sit during lunch? By myself. My high school didn't have a cafeteria so we ate lunch at the grade school. I could run down there faster than everyone else could drive, so I was usually done eating by the time 2/3 of the school got there.

9. Who did you take to Senior Prom? We didn't have a "Senior Prom" but I took Jenny Lamb (the girl from Pleasant Grove) to the Junior Prom that year.

10. Can you sing the fight song? Not even a little bit. I know that the phrase, "Down in the valley" is in there somewhere...

11. What was your favorite class? Heh heh. Half of my senior year I had released time work study for 4 hours. Other than that, I'd say the track & field PE class or band.

12. Were you a nerd? Does being the school AutoCAD guru make me a nerd? Or being the only person in the school who liked Dungeons and Dragons? I graduated 2nd in my class and turned down whatever graduation thing goes to the 2nd ranked person. If the difference between an A- and an A was 10 minutes of studying I would have taken the A- and spent the 10 minutes in the weight room. So I guess you could say that there were arguments for and against me being a nerd. I sure am now though, hee hee.

13. Did you have a job senior year? I had a job every year from 6th grade on. Senior year I had released time work study for 4 hours a day doing construction work at the Zion Ponderosa Resort. I helped build almost everything you'll see there.14. If you can go back and do it over, would you? The only thing I can say is I'd wrestle 152 instead of 140. I decided that just after wrestling season was over, so I can say it. I had gotten in the worst of my trouble before my senior year, and overall had a pretty good time. So I'd just change weight classes, and I only said that because I thought of it then.

15. What did you do after graduation? I went to Lake Powell on Saturday, flew to Salt Lake City on Monday to get re-sworn in to the Army, and flew to Basic Training on Tuesday. Some party, eh?

She's Back!!!

2007-07-08T21:37:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, Nicole was gone last week helping her sister start to get settled in their new home. For lack of anything better to do, I kept a tally of sorts while she was gone.

Food:
Pounds of meat eaten: 6
Gallons of milk drunk: 1
Otter-Pops eaten: 75 (plus or minus a few...)
Gallons of Gatorade drunk: 2
J-Dawgs eaten: 1
Quarts of ice cream eaten: 2
Boxes of brownie mix used/eaten: 1

Recreation:
Action movies watched (that Nicole won't watch with me): 5
Miles ridden on my bike: 32
Miles ridden off the pavement: 16
Characters created for Dungeons and Dragons Online Games: 2

Other:
Hours of sleep: 24 (I don't sleep very good when Nicole is gone)
Days I cooked on the grill: 5 (of 7)
Programming projects done: bits and pieces of 3

Just what religion do you belong to, anyway?

2007-06-26T20:01:00.000-06:00

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I'm well aware that my own religious beliefs are quite different than those of some other faiths. I served my mission in Toronto, Canada which according to the UN is the most multi-cultural city in the world. As such, it's only natural that it's quite a diverse place when it comes to religion as well. Over the course of my mission, I spoke to people from over 145 countries and MANY more religions. I attended services for several different churches (mostly Christian, although I did go to a Sikh Gurudwara once). I discovered that there were many (almost all Christian) different faiths that held at least a handful of beliefs similar to ours. However, since everyone is unique, everyone has a different "take" on the principles of his or her religion.

The other day at work, my boss mentioned the "Belief-O-Matic" quiz at Beliefnet.com as being very interesting. So I went to take a look and was quite amused with what I found. The quiz asks some questions about your beliefs, as well as the priority you place on each religious topic, then displays the religions you may "match" based on your answers. I posted my results here. So there you have it. Check it out, and see what other religions you agree or disagree with.

NOTE: This is NOT meant to be any kind of public statement of the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or any other religion.

Why do I do it?

2007-05-24T22:20:00.000-06:00

Today marked my first off-road mountain-bike ride of the summer. I rode with a friend from the ward up to the mouth of Slate Canyon, then along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail north to Rock Canyon. I now understand why most people who ride that segment do so going south. We found some pretty darn steep hills, so steep in some places that even I, a certified crazy fool, would be a little scared going down hill. As Mr. Murphy is a close friend of mine, during one struggle up a ridiculously steep grade I hit a patch of trail covered in loose rocks, my front tire stuck and turned, and I started to tip over. No worries, I thought, I've done this thousands of times. But the problem was, I'm riding on new pedals this summer and the degree of ankle twist to unclip is a little more than it used to be. So down I went. It was a little bit comical, as all instances of inability to unclip in time are, and I picked up the following treasure (not nearly as much of an inconvenience as the one pictured above, so small it barely bled at all, even in the remaining 45 minutes of the ride). I had a good little laugh, brushed the dirt off, and we went on about our merry way. We climbed some more hills, bombed down a couple (not nearly as long as the uphill sides) and then finished our ride with a brisk trip through the eastern bench streets home.

Nicole (and possibly some of you) wonders why I enjoy and have always enjoyed, any hobby, sport, or recreational activity that can cause bloodshed. Partly, it's because I grew up that way and a little blood was never much more than a reason for some of my "favorite" sayings, such as "Scars are proof," or "If you ain't bleedin', you ain't tryin'," or maybe "Chicks dig scars." Since past action is only partially responsible for my enjoyment of activities that are likely to cost me some skin, and since I've been trying to figure out what draws me to things like mountain biking and rock climbing and other "extreme" or "action" sports, I think I finally figured it out (with the help of Nicole's blog post tonight). I sit at a desk and fix computers all day, except for the days (which I enjoy) when I get to crawl around in ceiling tiles and on ladders pulling new network cable. Now seriously don't get me wrong here, I LOVE my job. I am a computer geek and my job is a computer geek's dream. However, my job doesn't really allow for much of the adrenaline rush that I got regularly when I was growing up. So, despite (and partially because of) the fact that I fairly frequently leave bits and pieces of hide along the trail, I love riding off-road because it makes me feel alive. As much as I love computers and fixing/tinkering with them, there's no wind blowing past my ears at my desk. There's no up-and-down, think fast or crash, rattling along the trail as fast as I dare (or maybe almost as fast) when I'm working. Even on my training rides, which take place on "safe" paved surfaces, the wind doesn't feel as fresh, and the hills feel more like exercise than adventure.

So yes, I am admittedly, certifiably crazy. I can sit at a desk in front of a computing problem for 9 hours without getting tired of it. But, every now and then, I need more. I need fresh air blowing in my face, sweat soaking the liner of my helmet, my bike rattling beneath me, grind my slow way up the hills and fly down the other side, through the river and through the woods good times. I've lost plenty of blood and skin in my life, and a little bit more every now and then is nowhere near too high a price to really feel alive. So stay tuned this summer for some more mountain bike posts.

Cars Part Two: A new little friend.

2007-05-18T18:42:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm finally getting around to it. We have had a new member of our family for the last couple weeks, so here goes:

Things I love about Yeti:
1. Despite the fact that he has an automatic transmission (which technically should be in the "don't love" column) he has cool paddle shifters that control the automatic transmission and provide almost as much control over the transmission as I would like.
2. Despite the fact that he has an automatic transmission and a fairly small engine, he is surprisingly responsive and peppy. He's not going to beat much of anything off the line, but he gets going much more quickly than Merlin did.
3. He has a startlingly large amount of room inside for such a small car. I have a good 6 or 8 inches of head room, and more knee room than I did in Merlin. Nicole's dad, while skeptical at first, said "I could ride comfortably in the back seat of this car, even all the way to St. George." My boss got in the passenger seat, looked up, and said, "Whoah!"
4. He has really bright headlights and good bright fog-lights. This (the headlights) was a feature I loved about my Civic (I did really wish my Civic had fog-lights), and growled about with Merlin. This was one of the few things that Consumer Reports hadn't given stellar ratings on, but given that they bombed the headlights on the 2001 Civic and I liked them anyway, I thought I'd take a chance. I'm vindicated.
5. He gets very good mileage. Our worst tank (actually the only full tank we've bought so far) was lots of city driving and lots of high-ish revs (traffic is a little crazy in Orem these days due to insane construction). and was a grand total of $26, totalling between 30 and 31 mpg. Big smiles when we're used to spending $40 to fill up, and getting around 20 mpg in city driving.
6. He has a 200 watt stereo with an MP3-capable CD player. This means my 16+ hour classic rock playlist fits on 2 CD's. The volume control goes to 40, and even I can't handle much more than 20 unless we're on the freeway going fast with the windows down.
7. He has real cup-holders. While Merlin's cup-holders barely held the bottom of a pop-can by less than an inch, these things take care of business, dwarfing a pop can and having no problem at all with the bucket-like large drink from Subway. They are even lit from above so you don't knock over your drink when you go reaching down there in the dark.
8. He sounds great. Honda Fits are in a unique position that most of them are sold before they even get to the States. Therefore, most dealers mark them up $1,000 over MSRP as soon as they hit the lot. Ken Garff Downtown in Salt Lake was good enough to add actual features for this, including aftermarket black rims (we didn't keep those--to much $$$), all season rubber floormats (we like), a sport grill insert (cheap so we kept it) and a Honda Racing sport muffler which we kept because we liked the white car better than the black one they had and taking off the muffler would have taken a day or so. The result is that you get this nice low-frequency growl at the lower rpm range (from 1000 to about 2300 rpm) and a very pleasant (to me) hum in the upper rpm range. I like it.
9. He's quite a sporty looking car. The Sport model, which we bought for the cruise control and aluminum rims) also has an underbody kit which adds greatly to the visual effect of the car, making the Sport model not look like a little granny grocery getter.
10. He places Nicole and I a little closer to each other. In Merlin it was a bit of a reach to hold hands across the way, but Yeti makes it nice and close.
11. And last but not least, he leaves lots of room around him in a parking space. At school, where they only paint the lines about half as long as "real" parking spaces, he only sticks out about 2 feet, and he leaves plenty of room for getting out the doors, even when people are parked close to the line in adjoining spaces. He also parallel parks like a dream.

Things I don't like (as much) about Yeti:
1. I would really have preferred a manual transmission. Due to the small size of the engine, it would be nice to be able to launch at a higher rpm if you were in a hurry to get across an intersection or something. This turned into a real deal-breaker with Merlin due to the fact that he had no guts until the turbo started making boost.
2. Yeah, that's pretty much it. What can I say, he's a definite keeper.

It's Mother's Day...

2007-05-13T19:05:00.000-06:00

So it's time for a little tribute to some of the mother's I've come to appreciate in my life.

1. First and foremost, my own little mother. Nobody could have been as much help in some of the down times in my younger life as someone who had been picked on perhaps even more ruthlessly than I was when we first moved home to Orderville. What did I learn from my mother? To cook, clean, sew (enough to get by), to read, to "rise above", "this too shall pass", that people who are mean to you have problems of their own, that someone who doesn't really like to drive in the bad weather can drive halfway across the state to watch her son play basketball, or wrestle, or run around a track; that mothers pray for and worry about their children because it's part of the job description, and so many more things that I could never write them all. Happy Mother's Day Mom, I could never thank you enough for all you've done for me.

2. My Grandma Esplin. A large chunk of my life has included regular trips to grandma Esplin's house, where we kids were always welcome. Grandma's house always smelled like cookies, or cake, or brownies, or bread. There was always raisins to eat, a room to play in if it was cold outside, and someone to worry about how we were going to get hurt. Grandma was always interested in what we were doing (even if she didn't approve of my choice in music) and always came running from the back of the house with a smile and a hug whenever we showed up. Not much has really changed over the years. There's still a happy hug when I stop by, and a good visit because I don't need a room to play in anymore. Happy Mother's Day Grandma, and we'll see you guys soon.

3. My Grandma Sorensen. Another large chunk of my life included stopping in a Grandma Sorensen's house for lunch when we'd been out squirrel hunting with Grandpa Doc all morning. There's nothing like a good hot bowl of macaroni soup, a few slices of cucumber, a tomato sandwich, and some cottage cheese, followed by helping Grandpa watch a movie with our eyes closed, when you've been out in the dust all morning (especially when you've been walking in the dust because Grandpa Doc got stuck and stranded again). I always appreciated that whenever I had a pair of pants that was beyond mom's time frame or ability to repair, I could take them to Grandma and get them fixed while I chopped some firewood, then eat some home-made pop-sickles on that rickety old rusty front porch swinging couch thing. I always appreciated how much Grandma enjoyed going to the Temple in St. George with mom, and how she was looking forward to going with me for the first time. I remember how sad I was that it was only a week before I went that she died. Happy Mother's Day Grandma, I miss you.

4. My mother-in-law, Hen. You hear so many mother-in-law stories that I feel truly blessed to have such a good one. Hen appreciates and encourages my geek-ness, even when Nicole is ready to whack me. Hen always has a plan, and unlike some other plan-oriented people I've known, doesn't freak out when the plan needs to be altered. Happy Mother's Day Hen, and thank you for making me feel so welcome in your family.

5. My sister, Miranda. Miranda has always been such a great sister, and I've looked up to her achievements. She's always known what she wanted and not been afraid to do it (except a ferret? Really?). She graduated from high school already with an Associates Degree (while I, at 27, have 2 more years left of undergrad), and is a very good mother to her children. Good enough to let me and Peter have our "alone" time together even though he was crying his little head off and was not at all happy with his Uncle Alex for trying to get him to sleep. Even though we don't talk or see each other as much as we'd like to, it's fun to see them when we can. Happy Mother's Day Miranda, you've always been a good sister, and now a great mother.

6. My sister-in-law, Natalie. I have a hard enough time just surviving each semester with passing grades, and I have no clue how she accomplishes everything she does with her two crazy, lovable kids. Even if much of her accomplishing involves Target and other such chick-stores, it's a considerable accomplishment. Happy Mother's Day Mari, and thanks for letting me be the Favorite Uncle for Jayden and Chelsea.

7. Last, but definitely not least, my dear wife, Nicole. Even though we don't have children of our own, she is already a mother. To Natalie's kids (until it's time to be the bad guy, which is my job), and to all of the "named entities" in our life, she already has it down. She tells me to be safe when I go biking, and greets me with a big smile when I get home (from a distance because I'm stinky and icky). Happy Pre-Mother's Day babe, I love you.

Cars Part 1: A fond, but sad farewell.

2007-05-08T17:31:00.000-06:00

As Nicole mentioned the other day, we just bought a new car. I would have blogged about it that very night, but apparently Nicole didn't want to interrupt her "flow" and made me wait for her. So now that she's all done, here we go.

Things I miss about Merlin (our old Passat):
1. He was paid for.
2. We went on our honeymoon in Merlin, and despite what Nicole says, even I develop some sentimental attachment sometimes.
3. He was a tank. I could have done with a much lighter car when he rolled over a pipe on my foot a couple of years ago, but hey, how much less smashed could 500 or 1000 pounds lighter of a car have made my foot when that would still leave 2000 pounds on it?
4. He was paid for.
5. Nicole loved him. Lots.
6. On cool-ish (between 45 and 70 degrees) days the turbo made a nice little whistle. Turbo whistle is one of my favorite sounds in the whole world.
7. Dark-tinted windows made it hard for people to see inside... ;)

Things I won't miss about Merlin:
1. Although he was pretty fast once he got going, he was a _very_ sluggish starter. He didn't go much of anywhere anytime soon when you stepped on the gas until about 3000 RPM when the turbo started making boost.
2. Sweaty can leather seat syndrome.
3. Cost of parts and repairs. Being that he was the first Volkswagen that I've even touched in more than 20 years, I didn't dare tinker on/try to fix him. German engineering is spelled p-a-r-t-$
4. Flimsy cup-holders that wouldn't hold a bottle of Mountain Dew (a road trip essential).
5. Less-than-stellar gas mileage. You would have thought that a 4-cylinder engine with a turbo would have gotten decent mileage. Think again. 20 was a usual average around town, and sometimes we got almost 30 on the freeway.
6. Dim headlights.

All in all, Merlin was a great car except when paying for parts/repairs. We went on our honeymoon in him, went to Newport Beach and Disneyland in him, and numerous other road trips. He had a very comfortable ride, handled very well, and once he got going he was pretty darn fast for a 4 cylinder in that heavy of a car. Although I'm not much for tears (Nicole shed my share when we traded him in) I will honestly look back on our time with Merlin as a good time. I'm glad that he'll get fixed back up nice and shiny with some new parts. He deserves it.

Music

2007-04-07T23:18:00.000-06:00

I haven't done one of Mari's little memes in a while, and this one seemed kind of fun, so here goes.

1. Song that reminds you of high school: That's kinda hard, there's a few: No Self Esteem by The Offspring was my favorite weight-lifting song and since I spent so much time in the weight room it definitely applies, I instantly loved Wind of Change by The Scorpions. Sweet Child o' Mine by Guns 'n' Roses and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin were the first songs I learned on the guitar so we'll throw them in. November Rain by Guns 'n' Roses and Shine, December, and Gel (all by Collective Soul) would probably round out the list of songs that most frequently remind me the most of high school.

2. What's playing in your car currently: We have a 6-disc changer so we each get 2 selections, and then we have 2 compromise selections. Nicole's are Aida (sndtrk) and some mix of songs she likes, the compromise cd's are Barenaked Ladies and mix of the rowdy songs I like that she also likes that I made her when we were dating, and mine are Bo Bice and Classic Rock Gold disc 2.

3. Favorite love song: That's a toughie. Having had poor luck (understatement of the year) with girls before I met Nicole, I don't count many love songs on my favorites list. If I had to choose I'd say November Rain by Guns 'n' Roses or Every Time I Look At You by Kiss.

4. Song that reminds you of your spouse: Any song from any musical, specifically Moulin Rouge. Songs by the Corrs (sp?), one of the bands she likes that I also don't mind.

5. Favorite Lullaby: My mom used to "sing us to sleep" sometimes and my favorite was a Primary-esque song called Where is Heaven. My dad came in one night not too long before he left for Desert Storm and sang Down in the Valley. That was one of the last times I can remember crying. When my mom and us kids drove across the country to Georgia when he got home from Desert Storm she would sing I Was Born Under a Wandering Star.

6. Favorite Christmas Song: Silent Night.

7. Favorite Musical: Heh heh. Do Disney movies count? They have songs. If so I'd say Sleeping Beauty. If not, I would have to admit that I thing Singing in the Rain is pretty dang funny. Nicole will vouch for the fact that I'm not a fan of sad stories so that nixes most musicals (especially the ones she likes).

8. Favorite artist you've seen in concert: I've never been to a concert (of a popular artist). I really wanted to go to Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica when I was in high school but my mom vetoed that. I saw an AC-DC concert on TV and that was pretty dang awesome.

9. First 6 songs that come up on your iPod when you hit shuffle: Piano Man, by Billy Joel, Goodbye to Romance by Ozzy Osbourne, For You by Johnny Cash (from the We Were Soldiers sndtrk), D'yer Mak'er by Led Zeppelin, Fairies Wear Boots by Black Sabbath, and Who Made Who by AC-DC.

10. Some of your all-time favorite songs that aren't already listed above: My 2 all-time favorites (Sweet Child O' Mine and Stairway to Heaven) are already listed, but to decide which others to list is a little hard. Every Breath You Take by The Police is definitely an all-time favorite of mine, as is All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. I could go on, but I won't.

My oldest friend...

2007-03-20T22:48:00.000-06:00

When we were giving all of our pictures and stuff to the wedding video people, Nicole looked at our respective piles of pictures and said, "Sweetie, look how many more friends I have than you." After faking some pain, we both had a good laugh. Having moved around frequently when I was very young, and moving in to Orderville when I was 11 (after everyone in my class had been in the same class since kindergarten), I never had very many close friends. After a couple of years I reached a point where I got along really well with most everyone in my class and school, but most of those relationships effectively ended when I left for the Army and later for my mission. Even after my mission, close friendships have been few and far between, and 2 of my 3 best friends (Dave Yates and Kari Lorimer) I've had since my mission I have all but lost touch with (I'm married to the other one). So this blog post is about my oldest best friend.

We met when I was 17 or 18. We spent countless hours together on hills overlooking sage flats, watching hay fields over the hood of my truck, and in untold other places around south-western Utah. His name is Thumper. He is a Savage 112-BVSS with a Sightron 6-24x target/varmint scope and a Harris bipod. My dad actually bought him at the same time I bought a .220 Swift, but I traded/bought him from my dad a year or so later. He's a pretty impressive guy: He can make a heck of a dent in a half-inch steel silhouette from 500 yards; his 168 grain, hollow-point, boat-tail match bullets are steady enough to poke holes in a person-sized box 1400 yards away unless the wind is blowing fairly hard; he inspires spectacular aerobatics from varmints as far away as you can hit them; and he always does exactly what you expect him to do. These qualities make it much easier to get used to the extra weight in that big fat barrel, heavy target stock, and long scope. In fact, I never really minded the extra weight when considering the benefits.

We don't spend as much time together as we used to, but we're still very close. Every time I settle in behind the scope, it's just like it always has been. There's a comforting feeling to the thickness of the grip, the numerous nicks and scratches in the finish from our adventures, and the solid feel of the butt-stock against my shoulder. The image through the scope is always crystal clear, bringing things up close and personal. By up close and personal, I mean really close: my dad and I used to shoot the tacks out of our targets when we were finished shooting for the day. Up to 300 yards, we challenged each other to call our shots precisely. Even the box with a shirt on it that we set up 1400 yards away was identifiable with the magnification turned all the way up to 24x. The click adjustments on the target/varmint knobs on the scope always move the point of impact exactly where I expect them to. The trigger always breaks cleanly just where it always did, with just a touch of surprise, in that half-held breath when the cross-hairs are still.

I learned a lot from Thumper. Hours of sitting behind his scope waiting for woodchucks, squirrels, and other hay-eating varmints to come out of their holes taught me patience. Hundreds of rounds of a solid kick in the shoulder taught me to hold steady even when you know something is going to be uncomfortable or even painful. Those same hours helped me create a close bond with my dad as well. So, despite the fact that all of my other guns have been sold or traded, I can never part with Thumper. He may be joined by a handgun or two again in the future, and another fat-barrelled gun or two, but he is still, and hopefully always will be, my oldest friend.

What are Uncles for?

2007-03-19T21:17:00.000-06:00

This last weekend, Nicole and I went to Orderville to celebrate my Sister's birthday. She and her husband and kids out for the week so we could bless her new baby boy with the whole family. This was the first time I had seen Liahna since she was Peter's age (3 months) so I had some catching up to do. Since this was our first time seeing Peter I thought I'd get off to as good a start as I could.

Uncles are for tickling... and laughing at their Nieces' little voices yelling, "Save me Gampa!"

Uncles are for being very excited... even when little Nephews aren't entirely sure they want to be.

Uncles are for playing in the dirt... and Nieces are for leaving little piles of it in "Gamma's" bathtub after.

Uncles are still for being excited to hang out with their Nephews...

Uncles are for helping feed and chase chickens... and keeping their Nieces out of "harms way"

Uncles are for catching Aunts and Nieces pulling faces at each other...

Uncles are for enjoying a good laugh with "Gampa" watching Nieces play in the dirt some more...

Uncles are for laughing their head off when their Nieces say, "Unca Ax I'm bouncing!"

And finally, Uncles are for chatting with their Nieces' and Nephews' mother about them (and other stuff, of course...)

Wordless Wednesday: Nicole likes to play with her camera; I like to play with my lightsaber...

2007-03-14T14:41:00.000-06:00

Mari's March Q&A

2007-03-11T22:50:00.000-06:00

Well, thanks to Mari's diligent Q&A posting I always have something to blog about when I have a spare second. Here's her March offering:

1. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you? Very likely something Nicole has said to me. Although, my bishop said a very nice thing about me once. I had just written a letter to my bishop from Basic Training with my brand new testimony in it and he read it in sacrament meeting and then said that it must be nice for my parents to know that I had become a good person.

2. What was your most embarrassing moment? One of two things: The farm boy conversation with Tophe and Nicole (if you want details you'll have to ask Nicole). Or the morning after I first kissed Nicole I ran into Tophe as I was going to do my laundry (Nicole was out of town) and Tophe got this big grin and said, "Good morning, sugar lips!" If you can't tell, Tophe has a gift...

3. What's your favorite place in the world? My family's private property overlooking Zion National Park in Southern Utah. No people, no buildings, no nothing. I've spent lots of hours up there. A very close second would be Hawaii.

4. Biggest waste of time? Worrying about something that you can't change for the worrying. I always got fed up at Basic Training and AIT when people would show up saying how the Drill Sergeants were going to 'smoke' us (lots of creative physical exercise). Everyone would be freaking out about it and stressing out and I wouldn't even care because if they were going to smoke us there was very likely nothing we could do about it, and if they weren't, why worry. The same applies to most situation where one could worry about something.

5. One or two piece swimsuit? Does it count as two piece if my board shorts have a liner? Otherwise I think I'm gonna have to go with one. Those dang t-shirts get all jacked up underwater...

6. If I knew then what I know now... Don't really have any of those. Every experience, even the really bad ones, has taught me something that makes me who I am and I don't think I'd be willing to trade any of those parts of me. It would have nice to have our wedding video on a DVD though...

7. The big decision I'm currently wrestling with is... If I can afford the time to start running and get in a little bit better shape for when I have a 3-mile bike ride to school after we move, or if I should just tough it out when it comes.

Taking a step back...

2007-03-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Once again, I find myself at the mercy of a pesky bug in a programming project. When you've stared at your code for a couple hours and gone through it line by line in the debugger, it's time to take a step back, put it in the sub-conscious problem solver, and return in a little while. In the mean time, Mari posted another Meme (what the heck is that anyway?) on her blog. This one is the whole alphabet, so get ready:

A- Accent: I've frequently been accused of being from the south, or being some kind of hick, both of which are more than a little true.

B- Best Friend: Sadly enough to say, I've more or less lost contact with most of the people who at one time or another would have fit this bill: Dave Yates, Kari Lorimer, Sherri Stephens, Phillip (I don't remember his last name, it was 4th grade). So now it's Nicole, my well-used mission scriptures, and my bike.

C- Chore I don't care for: I _HATE_ folding clothes.

D- Dog or cat: I've had some pretty funny friends from both categories here, so that's a tough one. Dog probably.

E- Essential electronics: My MacBook.

F- Favorite salad dressing: Probably balsamic vinaigrette (sp?)

G- Gold or silver: Meh. Silver on Nicole. Does stainless steel count as silver?

H- Handbag of choice: Heh heh. How about my North Face backpack.

I- Indulgence: I still like to play Dungeons & Dragons or computer games to relax. I know, I'm almost 27 blah blah blah

J- Job title: Computer geek.

K- Kids: None yet :-(

L- Latest personal purchase: A computer desk and chair so I can work at home without having fifteen things in my lap sitting in my old recliner or breaking my butt on a hard kitchen chair.

M- Most frequently craved snack: Hot, home-made bread... with honey or jam... or cinnamon and sugar...

N- Nail polish of choice: Heh heh. Chain lube from my mountain bike.

O- Overnight hospital stays: Miraculously none yet. I'm not quite sure how...

P- Phobias: Doesn't this require thinking about something you're scared of frequently? I'll have to get back to you on this one...

Q- Quote: "And I said unto the code guru, have mercy on me, for my code hath a grievous bug. And he had mercy on me, and wrought upon my code for many hours, and cast out the bug. And I said, how is this done? And he said this kind cometh not out, but by fasting and much prayer." -Quinn Taylor (a friend of mine).

R- Reason to smile: Give me a reason not to.

S- Siblings: Brother, Nathan and sister, Miranda (married to James) both younger.

T- Time I rise in the morning: 0610

U- Unknown fact about me: Despite having numerous broken parts (separated ribs, broken fingers, toes, nose etc...) I've never had a cast.

V- Vegetable I refuse to eat: None. Veggies are yummy.

W- Worst habit: Forgetting stuff.

X- X-Rays: Lots. Too many to remember well enough to count.

Y- Yummy food I make: Everything I cook.

Z- Zoo animal I most like: Tigers.

So it turns out that this Meme (still don't know what the heck that means) was kind of a chick thing, as some of the categories were only creatively applicable. So there you go Mari. And I'm now back to see if I can find that "grievous bug"...

Little Announcement...

2007-03-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

Since I know some of you aren't as well-versed or interested in computing as I am, I have created a new blog for all of that stuff. I'll be moving my post about Mac System memory over completely soon. If any of you have made comments and want them transferred with it, I don't know how to do that within the blogger framework, but feel free to post the same comment over there and I'll publish it right away. In a few days I'll remove that post from this blog to avoid having double-link issues with some of the computer folks/sites that will be linking to it.

Laters.

The Book Game

2007-03-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well, Mari and Nicole both asked for it...
The Book game:
1. Find the nearest book to you
2. Name the book and author
3. Turn to page 123
4. Go to the 5th sentence on the page
5. Copy out the next 3 sentences and post to your blog

The C Programming Language
Brian W. Kernighan & Dennis M. Ritchie

The heart of the dc1 program is a pair of functions, dc1 and dirdc1, that parse a declaration according to this grammar. Because the grammar is recursively defined, the functions call each other recursively as they recognize pieces of a declaration; the program is called a recursive-descent parser. (I removed code samples here) Since the programs are intended to be illustrative, not bullet-proof, there are significant restrictions on dc1.

There you have it, yet more irrefutable evidence that I am a geek. Yes, I keep programming books nearby anywhere I have occasion to sit, and yes I read them for fun.

Another Q&A from Natalie

2007-02-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

1. What's the quality you like least of yourself? I'm sometimes easily distracted when I should be focusing on other things

2. If you could trade places with anyone, living or dead, for a day, who would it be? There's far too many people in history I would have liked to be around, but the first person who comes to mind that I'd like to change places with would be the cold, hungry, all-but-forgotten farmer-turned-soldier who stumbled across George Washington kneeling in the snow and praying for the deliverance of his rag-tag army and the infant country he knew only God could save.

3. My life would be simpler if... School was easier...

4. What's your favorite possession? My gun, my bike, or my computer.

5. Guiltiest pleasure? I don't really feel guilt about any of the things I like. I find the idea of liking something "I know I shouldn't" is a little silly.

6. High road or low road? Not that I know anybody who would "want" to choose the low road, but I try to do what I feel is the "Right Thing".

7. Who was the naughtiest kid in your elementary school, and what did he do? Although I feel that the word "he" here is a little bit of a stereotyper I think that most of my teachers could have made a pretty good case for me being the naughtiest kid in my elementary school (and most of high school). I'll plead the fifth on the details, since I didn't get caught in most of my shenanigans, but a lot of them (in grade school) involved spit-wads (I graduated from spit-wads to things like fire and dry ice in high school). Incidentally, having the same 6th grade teacher as my dad was an enlightening experience when one of the times I got caught he said, "Damn it Tim!!"

8. The big decision I'm currently wrestling with is... Where to live when BYU housing kicks out the rest of the families from Wyview Park Student Family Housing (but I'm not mad about it...)That's not the gun I mentioned above, but what a good day...

Wordless Thursday?? The end of 40 hours of sleepless programming

2007-02-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Classic Rock? Not for a 14-year-old me.

2007-02-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

When you have been writing code long enough that you start to see semi-colons, parentheses, i's, and //'s everywhere you look, it's time to take a break.

Today I got an email from BMG telling me that my Grand Funk Railroad featured selection was available and I was mildly amused by the fact that when my dad recommended them to me almost 15 years ago (I don't like the sound of that!) I blew them off because I didn't want to listen to my dad's music. So here's a list of the top bands I ignored my dad's recommendation about that you'll find on my playlist now:

1. Grand Funk Railroad. Spanning from American Band to Loco-motion, these guys make a lot of music for a trio. And they rock.

2. Cream. Sunshine of Your Love. 'Nuff said. Cream holds some of Clapton's earliest, rockin'-est stuff, with Sunshine being a great indication. I do have to admit that I started to come around to this song when I was 17 or 18 and learned it on guitar.

3. Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. Dad used to tout this as one of the top five best, rockin'-est rock songs ever. Coming from the man who introduced me to Black Sabbath, I thought it didn't quite fit the bill. But now that I'm older and a little less prideful about what is "hard rock" enough to listen to, I'll admit it. This song is classic, perfect hard rock.

4. The Moody Blues. Due to the previously mentioned teenage foolishness, I thought these guys sounded kinda goofy. Especially when I'm Just a Singer in a Rock 'n' Roll Band was on that top five list. But, no surprise here, it's a quality, kickin' rock song.

5. The Who. Again due to teenage brain damage I thought these guys were too old to be "hard rock". By now it will come as no surprise to hear me say that I was wrong. Who are you? and My Generation are 2 examples of their quality rock tracks. A sure sign of my teenage brain-damage is that if I had known that they were the first ones to get away with having the f-word on an album, I probably would have liked them. Kids those days...

Now. For the top bands/songs I'm glad I actually listened to my dad's recommendation about.

1. Led Zeppelin. One of my top 5 favorite bands, possibly in my top 2. Stairway to Heaven is probably one of a 3 way tie for my number 1 favorite song. Over the Hills and Far Away and D'yer Maker, are also in my top "five". And to top it all off, anybody with references to The Lord of the Rings in not one, but multiple songs--well, I'm sold.

2. Van Halen. They were a little outside the Metallica, Megadeath, Iron Maiden, and others of the like I listened to back then, but those guys can really take care of business. The Van Halen brothers (Alex and Eddie) are awesome. And I have to say I liked them best with Sammy Hagar.

3. Whitesnake. I got their 10 greatest hits as a Featured Selection that I forgot to tell them not to send, and I was getting ready to send it back when Dad told me to open it up and listen to it. After a couple of tracks I was sold. You'll still find Here I Go Again in almost every single one of my playlists.

4. Bad Company. These guys kind of made the cut because of the teenage brain damage. I came across the record when I was 14. The only thing that went through my mind was remembering my mom telling my dad that she didn't want us to listen to it because it would make us want to be "bad" when I was like 7. So obviously I started listening to it and really liked it. Shooting Star, Bad Company, and Can't Get Enough of Your Love are still among my favorites.

5. Last but definitely not least, Black Sabbath. (The Ozzy Osbourne era) I was listening to one of my then favorites, (Metallica, Megadeath, or Guns 'n' Roses) when Dad came in my room with a battered, scuffed old cassette tape. He told me that if I liked whoever it was that I was listening to, I should listen to this tape because I'd probably like it, and he used to listen to it when he was around my age. I believe my exact words were, "I don't wanna listen to any of your old hippie crap." So he pushed stop on my stereo, put it in and pushed play. It just happened (random chance Dad?) to be on Paranoid. There was nothing my teen-age hard-headedness could say. Done deal.

A new tinkerer is born?!?

2007-02-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, 2 posts in one night. Don't I have school work? Well, the answer is yes, but something momentous has happened in our house tonight.

First, some brief background. For the past two years as I have tinkered with different distributions of linux, sometimes successfully and others learning the hard way how things work, Nicole has referred to my efforts as bumbling. As soon as she would hear me say, "I wonder if I can get ________ to work..." She would get a look of exasperation on her face, and tell me how much easier my life would be if I wasn't always "bumbling" and breaking my computer. She would talk about how she didn't have to "bumble" with her Windows system to get it to work, oblivious of the fact that Windows systems by themselves are the most helpless pieces of software I've seen. (A topic for an upcoming post). Any time I would try and figure something out for her (things I had never done and had to tinker with a little to figure out for her) she would tell me I was "bumbling."

Earlier today, I noticed that Nicole was fiddling around with iPhoto, seeing if she wanted to make a photo album for Apple to print. Then, to cement the fact that something strange is happening in my house, tonight as we were watching the news and I was washing the dishes, I started hearing strange little noises and sound effects. I looked over, and Nicole was fiddling around with iMovie HD on her new MacBook. Apparently, despite the fact that she has never touched iMovie in her life, she decided that she would "bumble" around and see if she could make a slide show out of some pictures she has taken.

Apple, OSX, iPhoto, and iMovie have done something that try as I might I have been unable to accomplish for the last two years. Despite having no prior knowledge of a software product, instead of asking me to figure it out for her, Nicole started up a program and started clicking buttons and looking around to see how it worked. I don't remember when was the last time I felt this kind of pride. As I write, she has selected some of her iTunes music for a soundtrack, and is importing pictures. I just asked her if it would be safe to say she was "bumbling" and the answer was an emphatic "NO!" She just asked me if I knew how to do something that I don't know, and told me, "I'll teach ya when I figure it out." We are still in the no-comment phase as to what exactly to call what she's doing, but we'll get there some day.

You know, they say that if you teach them, eventually they will learn. I never thought it would happen, but I'm so proud... so proud... You just can't teach this kind of thing...

Real Simple Q&A

2007-02-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Nicole said I should do this so here goes:

1. Bath or Shower? Eh. Whatever. Showers usually cuz they are faster and the purpose is to get clean.

2. What did you want to be when you were little? A soldier like my dad. Specifically I wanted to be an Army Ranger up until the time I got home from my mission.

3. What's the one thing you'll never understand? Why in the heck no one can make a pair of chick boots that is "cute" enough for my wife to approve of them, but useful enough to comfortably walk more than a block or two in. I know you were all expecting some kind of deep mysterious question, but if you can solve that one I'll be amazed.

4. What surprises you most about your adult life? Instead of an Army Ranger, or a construction worker, I'm a BYU student, studying Computer Science, looking at trying to get a Ph.D. and be a professor someday.

5. What's your idea of the perfect meal? It MUST HAVE meat. Potatoes help. Veggies are good. Add a peach-mango smoothie and you're there.

6. What is the craziest fashion trend or hairstyle you've worn? I don't recall ever wearing a fashion trend. My vacation beard over the semester break this year wasn't a big hit with Nicole, so I guess you could call that crazy.

7. What amount of money would make you feel like you were set for life? I'd settle for graduating, moving on to graduate school, and getting a more 'real' job.

8. If you could change careers now without any consequences or financial loss, what would you switch to? Uh... I would be a computer geek. And get paid for it. Oh wait, that's what I do. Ooh, ooh, I got it! I would be a graduated computer geek. Now that would be something.

9. What is the big decision you are currently wrestling with? Um. What to answer this question with. I really don't think I'm wrestling with any big decisions right now. Maybe what to focus on as I get into 400 level CS courses and start looking at grad school. Yeah, that would probably be it.

Thank you all, good night.