gentle rob

Mixes

2010-01-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

Back in the day, I used to be pretty proud of my mix making abilities. I mean, I thought it was one of the things that I was really good at. Since then, I have lost touch a bit with what is going on in music, and stopped making them altogether. And you know what, I have been kind of sad about that.

I recently found 8tracks.com and I love it. You can put a mix together from music that you upload or from stuff that has already been uploaded to the site. Plus you can listen to other peoples music all day while you are at work in a way similar to pandora and not get totally bored with your "Album Leaf radio".

I have made 3 mixes thus far, and here is my latest. I think everyone should go make one and send me the link. Then we can be pals on another internet site. Hooray!!

Best New Sub-Genre

2009-06-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Lisztomania Tribute video.

The original:

Awesome

The Tribute:

Even more awesome.

The Tribute to the Tribute:

Super Awesome!!!

Jer3miah

2009-06-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Oh wow, I haven't written on this blog in so long. Lately the blog has pretty much turned into video clips from things that I think are cool -- so I decided I will continue along that thread with the current blog post.

The Book of Jer3miah is awesome. It is an online show co-created by a former student of mine (Jared, can I say that? You were in my Doc history class.) at BYU. From what I have seen and read, the purpose of the show was to play around with narrative texts and the means by which they are told. Initially, clues about the show were scattered around BYU campus and even placed in episodes themselves. I, however have self-diagnosed ADD and can't be bothered looking for clues, so instead I just got hooked into the narrative that the show has to offer. It has a great feel like LOST meets 24 meets The Phone Call ("How are the Oranges in California?")

At first the show was just a curiosity to me, but as the episodes wore on and on I became enveloped into the storyline and by the Season finale I was patiently waiting for episodes to appear.

The show is well made considering that it is made as a class project -- if only I could get my students to make something so intricate and involved. And I applaud Jared for running with an idea and being totally successful at it.

I would highly recommend that you all go and watch it. It is one of the most interesting things to happen in Mormon cinema, and I am glad to hear that it is getting recognition outside of the school (I wonder if it is getting more recognition outside of the school than in).

Here is a sample episode:

03: DETOUR from The Book of Jer3miah on Vimeo.

The whole season can be watched here

Sorry

2009-03-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

but I won't join your Facebook group that is calling for the boycott of HBO because they are showing Temple stuff on Big Love.

I never know how to feel about situations like this...does it mean that I am apathetic?

But I do like the answer that the Church's PR machine has churned out:

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

My favorite part about working til 7...

2009-02-25T22:23:00.000-08:00

...Actually, I don't like it that much. But I do get to listen to this great radio show on the way home. It's called "TBTL", which is short for Too Beautiful to Live. It is called so because it is a show mostly about Pop Culture and it runs against Delilah, and it's on Mormon-owned KIRO FM, so it is bound to get cancelled one of these days. Anyway, you should take a listen. It grows on you. At first I was wondering when they were going to get to the meat of the show -- I always think they are taking tangents, but soon I realized that the whole show is 3 hours of tangents.

http://www.mynorthwest.com/tbtl

Oh Conan

2009-02-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

I haven't watched you religiously in 10 years. But I hope you will still do classics like this:

I really think

2008-11-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

So what if my personal blog has become a repository for videos of random bands playing good music.

I really think that Vincent Moon is doing some of the most exciting things happening in Music/Film. I feel that this is further evidenced in his latest video with Fleet Foxes.

I mean the sound! Geez, I think they are all wearing lavs, and yet they mix it to catch that incredible space! I miss playing music.

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

i also like juan's basement

2008-10-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

a short film that I like

2008-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Jobs and Such

2008-09-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yo Peeps. As if getting married recently wasn't enough excitement in my life (it is!), I recently quit another job. Here is the story behind it:

Ever since I graduated from school, I have wanted to get back into it. Seriously, the time that I spent at BYU was so awesome, and the jobs that I had as a graduate student were the best ever. I loved teaching -- and despite the fact that I am not the greatest at it, I wanted to get back into it.

When I moved to Seattle, I was desperately looking for a job. I looked for teaching spots, but there are relatively few community colleges in the area that have any course of study that I would be an expert on (Mass Comm, Video/Film, Saved by the Bell), and the ones that did really didn't have any openings.

But randomly, before the wedding, I found a job posting for a teaching position at a Technical College in Kirkland. It was in the Video Production department -- I really didn't have any intention of leaving my current job, but decided to apply just for the heck of it (putting my resume together the night before the wedding while watching "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" with James). After all, there are a few teaching jobs that I could take, so this would be the perfect opportunity to get in and get some experience at the community college/technical college level.

I got a call while on my honeymoon for an interview.

At my first interview I talked too much and didn't think I did very well. But I got another interview -- apparently they liked me and offered me the job. I am the newest Full Time Faculty in the Multimedia Design and Production Department at Lake Washington Technical College.

So now I am taking another road that I didn't anticipate, but that I have always wanted. Today is day number two (I start teaching Monday) and I am scared out of my mind. There are so many unknowns, so many areas where I don't have a clue, but this time I am determined to not let that scare me away.

Wish me luck!

Married

2008-09-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Check out my married blog for updates on my married life. Peace!!

http://roblovessteph.blogspot.com

Two Days!

2008-08-14T10:56:00.001-07:00

I am so excited!!!

Now if only stupid work didn't keep me from having fun. urgggh.

Our new blog

2008-07-27T00:25:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if everyone knows this, but Steph and I started a new blog for our wedding and/or our future life together. Use it to figure out how to get to our reception, learn about me and Steph, or send us a wedding gift via the internet.

Our wedding is from the future. Check it out at http://roblovessteph.blogspot.com

3 more weeks!!!

muxtape

2008-07-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

Before I became all domesticated, I used to pride myself on an ability to make a mean mix CD. This was back when I still kept up with music and stuff, and I would enjoy giving these CDs to friends as birthday presents. To try and keep sharing music in this digital age, I started a music blog which turned into a podcast. And while that is fun and all, I still don't have the chance to share a shiny disc full of music with anyone.

Enter muxtape.com. I read about it on Wired this week. And the site is pretty cool. You can upload 12 songs and anyone can go listen to them like a complete mix CD. I made my first tonight and maybe I will try to update in the future. However, this means that I may actually have to try and find some new music.

Enjoy.

http://gentlerob.muxtape.com

Lay off me, I'm starving!!

2008-06-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hey dudes -- sorry it's been so long since I've last posted, but I figured I'd better give any remaining blog readers out there an update on my life.

Some of you may have heard, but Nathaniel, Jane, and I got booted out of our house. It was sad, and only now do I fully realize how good I had it there. Anyway, I ditched Seattle and moved to Kirkland to be closer to work. I moved in with James for a few months before I have to dish out money and get an apartment for me and the lady. Meanwhile, here is my basement abode:

It's pretty cool, but not too cool that I am not excited to ditch this place and move in with a lady (only 2 plus months til the wedding!)

Oh, and while I was moving over here to Kirkland, my old faithful blue Honda shot out some nasty smoke and gave its final breath. It was a sad day, because that car had served me for 230,000+ miles and had seen some pretty awesome times. These are some highlights in the old blue Honda:

1) Road tripping with Jared Clark to San Francisco to see the Notwist and hang out with those dudes out there, before they were all married
2) Amanda cracking the windshield with her foot in the middle of our break up
3) Road trip to Jenn Nations mission farewell -- Suzanne, Nathaniel and I at Las Vegas Casinos at 3 am. Also the same night as Suzanne's infamous mustard sandwich at Carl's Jr.

That's all I can think of right now. Feel free to give your memories and pay your respects in the comments below.

But with death brings new life. And this car was brought into mine:

It's a 2008 Honda Civic (high rollin, I know!) The ride is pretty dope and futuristic. So futuristic that it has a digital speedometer ("why yes officer, I can tell you the exact speed that I was going"). I figure it will be a handy car to have around when gas gets up to 1 firstborn/gallon.

Well that's it for my update. I will try to be better about updating this.

Oh, and now is a good time to buy your plane tickets for the wedding. Remember Aug 16th! We already have one confirmed guest: Mike Nations -- so that should be enough to get anyone up here.

Peace

Matters of Ward Business

2008-05-05T09:31:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to update this for a while with the various happenings of my life. I would like to do this with pictures, but I always forget to bring my camera around with me.

1. My 1991 Honda Accord died this weekend after 17 years of faithful service. It began doing weird things last week while I was moving and this past weekend I drove it home to have my dad look at it. It was at this point that it gave up the ghost. I am convinced that it wanted to go home to die. So now I get to buy a new car...which shouldn't be difficult, but I rarely think about cars so I have no idea what to get.

2. I was booted out of my house in Seattle and I now live with James. He is a cool roommate who has fun things at his house like ball pits, and randomly buys sewing machines and bread makers....and I am constantly finding out totally random stuff about him -- like last night he told me that he was a stock broker for a year.

3. Stephanie and I moved our wedding date to August 16th!!! Save this date and come visit me in Seattle -- I can probably find you a floor to sleep on.

Okay, I think that's it for now.

On Getting Hitched and Stuff

2008-04-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I asked this girl

to marry me. Even though the whole process kind of freaked me out, and I got many good suggestions on how to do it (putting the ring in various forms of food, skydiving, etc). I opted for the old fashioned approach of taking her to a dive of a chinese restaurant in the international district (really good dumplings and homemade noodles). Following which, I took her on a tour of notable sites in our relationship, ending up in Matthews Park out towards the end of Sand Point. It was dark, rainy, and real cold. I tried to make it seem like I wasn't about to propose marriage, but there was no way around it, and thankfully, she said yes.

I consider myself pretty lucky. Wedding details will be forthcoming, but we are thinking the end of the summer -- as if you needed another reason to visit the great northwest.

ummmm....awesome

2008-03-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

over the hills

Good Good Friday!!

2008-03-21T19:12:00.001-07:00

Hey dudes-

While all of you suckers were slaving away at your jobs. I was having the best Good Friday you could ever imagine. You see the thing with my job is that my company is based out of Dallas, and I guess good Friday is a big deal down there, and as a result, I didn't have to work.

So it started out with me getting a new job -- which was pretty awesome. I guess I won't get to enjoy any more Good Fridays off -- oh well, at least I won't hate my life that much.

Stephanie decided that I could do whatever I wanted, considering that it was my day off (she is so nice, she just finished her last day of school yesterday as well, but she wanted the holiday to be all mine). I jokingly said that I wanted breakfast in bed -- so she brought me hot chocolate and the peanut butter and jelly donut from Winchell's that I've been eyeing for months. She is pretty much the bomb dot com.

Then we went to Ikea and we bought a bunch of nick nacks that we didn't need. However, I did decide that I needed this organizer (it like I, was temporarily oversold):

Then, we went to eat lunch at the Australian Pie company. They are this fantastic place in Burien that makes Australian Meat Pies. After my mission I would wake up in the middle of the night craving these things.
Look at all those choices -- how is someone supposed to decide?

I got the beef, potato, and cheese pie. I was not disappointed:

We got a sausage roll for nostalgic purposes -- just as bad as I remember.

It makes me happy that Steph is into them:

After Burien, we went into the city and went to the Columbia Center, which is the tallest tower in Seattle.

The view from the bottom:
The view from the top:
Good Friday pretty much rules.

Happy St. Patty's

2008-03-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

a classic:

Red Mill

2008-03-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

Steph and I have been craving Red Mill Burgers for approximately 6 months now, and every week, she is disappointed that we don't get to go there. So tonight, post MOHAI, we headed up to Phinney Ridge and got our eat on.

I was first introduced to Red Mill a few years ago by Cindy and I have not looked back since. The last time I went was with Jared Clark and Jason Anderson. And Jason, despite being a vegetarian for the year prior to the Red Mill visit, totally downed a double bacon deluxe.

Stephanie played it safe with the regular deluxe....wuss!

I played it less safe by adding cheese. But I was immediately filled with guilt afterwards for not ordering the Bacon and Bleu Cheese Burger.

Notice that I am not a tomato or pickle guy -- so shoot me!

But I am a goopy kind of guy....mmmmmmmmm

If anyone wants to come and visit, I promise to take you there. But if you don't come, don't worry, because I probably still will end up going.

History and Industry

2008-03-06T22:31:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night Steph, and I decided to resume our tour of free museum nights (the first thursday of each month) by attending the Museum of History and Industry, which coincidentally is the museum that my roommate Jane works at.

In boomtown, Stephanie attempted to hold up a bank.

Then she decided it might be better if she concealed the fact that her gun was really a finger. A wise crook.

Oh, no big deal, but this glue pot started the great fire of Seattle. Shame on you pot of glue!

Stephanie lost me for a while, only to find me making attempts to cut up this Salmon in record speed. Don't worry, I was pretty amazing.

Steph really liked this chair. Me too!

Wow, I have such a renewed appreciation of Washington history and industry -- thank you museum.

Tullycraft

2008-03-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my nephews and brother-in -law made an excursion over to Seattle to come see a free in-store at Easy Street Records with Tullycraft. My nephews were really excited about it.

Simon was really good at hiding his excitement and just playing it cool. Here he is post-stitches:

They both kept peeking under the rolling door and saying things like: "I think I saw a foot go past"

Simon is getting ready to Dance:

When they finally started playing, the boys no longer looked excited, but instead assumed the indifferent "too hip to get into it stance". Oh yeah, and there is Steve, taping.

Tullycraft are a lot of fun. I really like Sean, the lead singer, because I think him and Mary Cox should get married, and because he only really plays one string on his bass, and he probably hasn't changed those strings since I saw them in '97.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. Except for Simon, who I couldn't tell if he had fun, because he was way too cool to show it. Thanks Dudes.

Jordan Pratt

2008-02-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Check out this video: ’Go Nowhere’

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Pike Place Market

2008-02-20T21:58:00.000-08:00

On Monday, our day of presidents, I had to work. Now while I was a little bummed about this -- the good news came later on when I found out that I got to go home early -- especially because it was such a nice day out.

To celebrate -- I went with Stephanie, Alicia, and their out of town friends Micah and Rachel to the Pike Place Market -- it's so Seattle.

I did see one thing that I hadn't seen before -- the gum wall:

And this familiar scene:

A Valentine's Day Cookie

2008-02-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

Now while mine and Stephanie's Valentine's plans weren't impressive by any means -- Her gift to me was really wonderful. She made me a Smart Cookie out of two of my favorite things: Ginger Molasses cookies (sooooo good!) and coconut ice cream (so gooood!). When they were put together they were pretty much the best thing ever -- I have pictures to prove it:

Do I really look like that when I am eating?!? Oh well.

caution: spoilers ahead

2008-02-06T23:02:00.001-08:00

Finally!!!

I am so glad that this guy is no longer in my life.

Question for Death Cab fans

2008-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

how do we feel about Chris Walla solo?

me: undecided

although I do love that John Roderick and the ugly girl from the Decemberists are in this video

recognize the ex-provoite from this?

2008-01-10T23:23:00.000-08:00

hint: it is not paul

thanks nathaniel for the link

New Years Bingo!

2008-01-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

So I am assuming that most of you heard about this raging party that happened on New Years Eve in Silverdale, WA -- I guess there were a few national reports in the papers. Well, it was all a result of Stephanie and I deciding that we wanted to throw a party for my nieces and nephews. The party itself was a lot of fun, but the most fun was had during a game of Bingo (Thanks Bruce for the awesome Bingo set!)

Simon was really frustrated for the first couple of rounds because he really wanted to win one of the slap bracelets I picked up from Archie McPhee's.
My dad has found his new post-retirement calling -- Bingo caller!

Overall, it was a pretty awesome night. We were going to have a prize for the kid that made it to midnight, but they all did. We were more tired than they. It was probably due to the massive amounts of candy that each of them ate.

Thanks family!

Tullycraft

2008-01-02T20:45:00.001-08:00

The week before Christmas I went and saw Tullycraft with my brother-in-law Steve. The show was fun because we both really like Tullycraft, and we first saw them together in 1997 at Pop Fest Northwest in Seattle. This is a picture of Steve and Sean, the lead singer. Sean is totally awesome because he only plays one of his bass strings and is kind of the most awkward singer ever.

2007-12-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today is Simon's Birthday. I like him because he is weird/cool. He likes to do things like google himself on the internet, and check out satellite photos of my house from space.

Before the birthday we made a trip to Archie McPhee's. I thought the glasses would be fun, but I had no idea that they would be the funniest thing I had seen in a while:

Happy Birthday Simon!

'Tis the Season

2007-12-01T23:29:00.001-08:00

Fruitland Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T23:25:00.000-08:00

So for Thanksgiving this year I had the opportunity to travel with Stephanie and the rest of the Farrar's to Fruitland, Idaho to spend time with their wonderful friends, the Farmers. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but the ones that I did take were quite excellent:

Here is my room. I was pretty lucky to have a pop-n-shot in my room as it also came in handy as Stephanie and I hid in it in an awesome game of sardines.
Post-thanksgiving dinner, Steph and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I include this picture because Stephanie looks really pretty in the golden hour (I, on the other hand, am reminded why I should never shave my head):

Fruitland:

The next day, while the women engaged in Christmas Crafts, the boys went and shot clay pigeons with shotguns.
Cade and Alek were experts at launching the pigeons.
Mark was pretty good:
Rick worked it like a pro:
After a slow start, Bruce was showing top form:
Me, I was nervous most of the time:
But I did okay. You can actually see the pigeon in this photo if you look close:
Soon we digressed into trying to hit two at a time. Andrew, was probably the best at it:

Overall, it was a really fun weekend. Thanks Farmers and Farrars!

Soccer Weekend

2007-11-13T23:24:00.001-08:00

This weekend, I was blessed enough to be able to go to Bremerton for some good ol family time. It was especially good because I got watch some kids soccer games.

This is Simon, he told me earlier in the game that he was excited because he had found himself on the internet. Well here you go again, Simon. This kid is the most funny/weird of my nieces and nephews, but always good for a laugh:
During the game we got to hang out with James, who Analise referred to as Rob, Jr. citing a striking resemblence between us. I don't know if I see it, but if my kids came out looking as cute as him, I would be pleased.
These are the star soccer players, Torsten and Analise:
Genevieve agreed to come on condition that she could watch from a stroller:
This picture makes Stephanie look like she is an ultra serious coach, but she's not...
...but Mike is -- actually he's a really good coach. Their team went undefeated this season, and they have some really good players on their team.
Stephanie has been mentioning that I get really into my nieces and nephews soccer games, and its true. I used to scoff at parents that would let their children endure such a practice, but now I am totally for it.

What are you gonna do?

Ruth Allison and OK Ikumi

2007-11-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

It was fun to have these kids staying at our house:

this is how we do it

2007-11-13T23:21:00.001-08:00

This was me and Nathaniel when I was really into scrabulous. Unfortunately, now I hate that game because I am lame at it.

2007-11-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry its been so long since I've blogged. I've been busy with other stuff like the podcast and work.

So yesterday was Halloween, I didn't dress up, but Jane told us that we usually get a bunch of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Upon hearing this, Nathaniel and I went out and bought a bunch of Candy. And once we had the candy, this is what we did. We waited...and waited...
No one ever showed up. Forget Halloween, I hate trick or treaters anyway.

So if you don't know, Stephanie and I are poor, so we've been taking advantage of the fact that most museums in Seattle are free on the first Thursday. Last month we did the Seattle Art Museum and the month before that the EMP. This month we did the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

They have lots of planes at this museum.

In addition to planes, the museum has some awesome things like...

Carl Sagan's turtleneck.

I liked the inside of a space shuttle.

We are looking down on Earth...or are we on Earth...hmmmm?

Then we took our turn at landing the space shuttle. I didn't want to say anything, but Stephanie totally crashed.
While I made a perfect landing.
But the best part of the museum was stuff that you really don't need a museum for.

Stephanie with a mustache and a random kid:

Me as Major Tom:

My favorite ever:

Defense of the Century

2007-10-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend, I skipped work and travelled to Utah for some special events. The first was my master's thesis defense. The night before the defense, Jessica let me sleep on her awesome fold away couch. Thanks Jessica! It's just like home.I passed my defense, and my professors gave me so many positive comments. I was really grateful, especially after my existential crisis of job hunting in the few months before.

After the defense, I walked around campus. Everyone seemed so so young, despite the fact that I had been there the year before. I eventually found jon in a print lab.
I also found Rachel, which is always a good surprise.
After the defense and eating with friends, I went up to Salt Lake for Suzanne's wedding. I was really excited to see Suzanne, and here wedding was really beautiful. But I was also excited to see this guy.

I'm practically his godfather or something.
I enjoyed talking to his dad while we ate yummy thai.
At the reception the next day, they had awesome things that should be at more weddings. Like a soda fountain:
and yogurt covered gummy bears:

Stephanie asked me to take a picture of Suzanne's dress. I think that's here husband chatting it up next to her.
One of my favorite moments was the Heaton family tradition of putting on funny hats and dancing to "We are Family".
Afterwards, I hung out at Cindy's new pad with cool peeps.

When Marsha and Kristen showed up, that's when things started to get nuts.

So all in all, I had a great weekend. Thanks for all the cool friends in Utah who let me mooch off them. Be sure and come visit us in Seattle.

I am pretty excited for this...

2007-09-26T21:58:00.001-07:00

Although I wish Jessica, Mike and Annabelle were here to watch it with me...in bootlegged form...a few hours after it aired.

Maybe now that I work at a station that airs The Office, I can somehow get a sneak peek.

However, I think the best thing about my job is that it produced this show. I spent much of my youth waiting up on Saturday nights for it to come on:

Spokanistan

2007-09-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

So last weekend, after 20 some odd years of Washington living, I finally visited the fine town of Spokane. I took few photos, but I really liked the ones that I did take. One of the coolest things we did was visit the Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane. The lobby was so dang cool:

We sat in chairs that could fit two of us. Here, Stephanie recounts some Davenport history.
Later on in the weekend, we went up to Green Bluff which is a community full of farmers selling things. We chose to go to Apple Fest, which seems to occur on a weekly basis. Stephanie really wanted a pony ride but I told her that she was too big -- but not too big for the hat.
At Apple Fest they let you pick your own apples. Here's us riding out to the orchard with Grandma Jackie and cousin Andrea.

I told Stephanie that I wouldn't mind inheriting an apple orchard, but she said she would just sell it. It's hard to tell from her expression here.
On the way home we stopped at the Gorge and were nearly blown over the edge.

Overall, I really liked Spokane. I guess it's time for me to stop dissing it.

Goodbye Jared

2007-09-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a very special house guest. His name is Jared. He is very well mannered and likes to eat Red Mill Burgers, which is good because I like to eat them as well. Mmmmm...Bacon Bleu Cheese.
We also did fun things like finally watch the Bourne Ultimatum (remember when he choked that guy with a book?! Awesome!). We also went to some galleries where Jared showed off his talent as a art networker. Here he is networking with a Bruce Lee's head made of cardboard.

Thanks for coming Jared! You are welcome any time.

The Gentle Tyrants Podcast

2007-09-17T22:05:00.001-07:00

Yes my friends, that is right, since Nathaniel and I have kind of let our other website go to pot, we decided to start a podcast. It is kind of boring right now, but we will try to do better. However, we need your help to make it the best that it can be. What you can do:

1) Subscribe to the podcast -- this way you can get it every week automatically on your itunes. Click here to do that.

2) Give us feedback at gentletyrants@gmail.com

3) Come and visit us and be a guest.

4) Tell your friends.

thanks steve

2007-09-11T22:22:00.001-07:00

for this:

Alki, What a Thrill

2007-09-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, since I moved to Seattle I have not seen any shows. This is primarily because I have little money to do such things, but on Saturday we got to see a show for free. We headed over to 107.7 The End's Beach House to get a free show from Rilo Kiley. I mostly just wanted to see Jenny Lewis and make Blake Sennett/Salute your shorts jokes.

Stephanie was a sweet heart for waiting around with me and the 50 other high schoolers that were there. There was also this guy with an American flag that he got Ozzy Osborne and the Beastie Boys to sign.
All in all, Alki wasn't the worst place to be on a beautiful Seattle Saturday.

Oh, so I'm almost done getting things into my room. I'm pretty happy with the things that I have and the price I have paid for their acquisition. Lets see what I got:

Desk = free, got it from the lady up the street. She was originally asking for 20 at the yard sale, but I held out and yesterday it was sitting on the curb with a "FREE" sign attached. Thanks Steph for helping me lug it down the street.
Chair=5 dollars
Bed = free (thanks Sarah)
Nightstand = 5 dollars
Cindy, thanks for leaving behind the shoe rack and the eyeball lights. However, it took me a while to find the switch on the lights and I was mad at you for a second for giving me broken lights.
Bookcase = free, apparently Carl left it behind and I am the benefitor
Thanks room for being so nice to me, now all I need to do is to find a job so that I can pay for you. Arghh!

Oh and sorry for being slack about gentle tyrants these days. What's even worse is Nathaniel and I live together now, so there is no excuse. But something is in the works, so watch out!

Fun things I did this week

2007-09-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

So this week was my first official week living in Seattle. This place is so fantastic (when the weather is fantastic), so please everyone come and sleep on our couch (but not all at once).

Tuesday was the great Stephanie's birthday. So in honor, we ate some awesome food at Agua Verde and rented a canoe on Lake Washington. About a half hour into our trip, my arms were hurting really bad, then Stephanie comments "Does this seem really easy to you?" I come to find out that she had hardly been paddling. Oh Stephanie, you are so silly, and from the looks of the photo below, quite stoic.

We found out last month that a lot of the museums in town are free on the first thursday of each month. This month we decided to go to the EMP / Science Fiction Museum.

One of the exhibits was probably one of my most favorite things ever. Sound and Vision is an oral history projects with a bunch of music pioneers.
There were so many to watch, so I just watched Calvin Johnson talk about Mudhoney.
And Sir Mix-a-lot talk about "Posse on Broadway" and "Baby Got Back". I'm so glad that someone is preserving these things.
But the best part was that they had a personal history booth where individuals could go in and talk about their experiences with music, science fiction and popular culture.

Then they even had a place where they played a few of them. This kid was talking about Star Wars and stuff -- so incredibly awesome. I went into the booth, only to have it break 30 seconds into talking about my first Elliot Smith show.

Seattle and free museum nights are the best things ever. Next month: either the Museum of Flight or the Seattle Art Museum

planet of ice (update)

2007-09-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

So I got a news tip from jacob this morning. Apparently, some people got stuck last night at the ice caves that we went to yesterday. The story can be found here.

So one thing that I didn't tell you yesterday is that there were a ton of kids there from some eastern european country. These were the kids that were throwing rocks at the opening of the ice cave and then climbing up to the top. I really wouldn't be surprised if the trapped hikers were some of them.

planet of ice

2007-09-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

So I know that the name might be deceiving, but a quick update. So last week for my graduation present, Stephanie took me here.While I was waiting for her I found this guy manning the information booth, which was actually a segway. I thought it was pretty fantastic.
Here was our view, it was fantastic. Hooray for Stephanie for being the best significant other ever!

So today to celebrate the working class we drove up into the mountains to go on a hike to some place called "the Ice Caves". However, a short while into our hike, the trail ended abruptly, like so.
We found out that we would have to cross to the other side on this log.

When we finally got to the ice caves they looked like this.

When Steph's sister Monica gets unruly she likes to splash water onto Steph.
Facebook profile photo.
Followed by series of lovey dovey shots.

Oh. and I finally moved into my house. I am now officially a Seattle resident. Yeahh! Plus my mom alerted me that I was in for some fantastic times ahead according to my horoscope.

What I had to deal with today

2007-08-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Stampede

2007-08-22T19:24:00.001-07:00

Today I went with my entire family to the Kitsap County Fair and Stampede.We spent most of the morning looking at fun animals. One of our favorites were the llamas, and were told that if we stood close enough, they would give us a kiss.

A little later we got to see Don Riggs, the self proclaimed Reptile King. About 5 minutes before the show I saw him running desperately to find a bathroom. It is funny when you realize that those guys who you thought were really cool when you were a kid, are actually regular dudes.

Speaking of that, Nathaniel: Cowboy Buck was the MC for the festivities. I cannot believe that he is still around. Remember when he came to scout camp and people were throwing rocks at him?

Torsten was lucky enough to get pulled up on the stage to hold the alligator.

I wished I had come earlier to the kids tractor pull. It kind of reminded me of a mini World Strongest Man competition.

In the science tent, Torsten showed me his Jedi skills.

James was a spectator for most of the day.

After telling the kids we weren't going any any rides all day, Grandma finally broke down and sold my nieces and nephews to the Carnies.

By the end of the day I was too tired to stick around for Grand Funk Railroad. By the end of the day I also remembered how truly white trash Bremerton is.

grad-u-macation

2007-08-20T22:52:00.001-07:00

So last week I took a break from desperately looking for a job to do this. It was pretty cool, despite the fact that I haven't really finished (theses don't defend themselves).

Young Sister Farrar surprised me in advanced by skipping her last two days of school to be there for the big event, once again proving that she is a fantastic girl to have around.

Here is an awkward moment from convocation, I felt like I was on that stage forever waiting for them to call my name.

I love jessica!!

What's the fun of getting a master's degree when you can't actually put the hood on? We'll change that (Many geeky jedi jokes followed).

It mostly reminded me of this:

Has anyone ever heard the legend that if you run past the statue of Brigham at night he will do the funky chicken?

Now, back to the real world

Hey Everyone!

2007-08-13T21:30:00.001-07:00

I am in Utah this week.

Reptile Zoo

2007-08-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

So after spending a pretty awesome weekend with Stephanie and her family, my sister Jen picked me up so that I could accompany her family on their trip here:

Yes, that's right. This place in Monroe, WA has the worlds 10 deadliest snakes. I challenged each of them to a duel.

Here is Torsten hanging out with my favorite animal of the day, the snapping turtle.

However, I think they may have been a favorite because I remember this guy:

Here was another favorite of the day. I wanted to take these baby turtles home.

This is their parents (the turtles, not the redheads):

Later on we got to handle some snakes:

Another thing I learned is that little turtles like to eat salad. They put this plate of greens out for the babies and they went crazy. I was tempted to pour a radioactive ooze salad dressing on it and then train them to do martial arts, but I resisted.

"There's snakes out there this big!?"

i think I'll head home

2007-08-02T20:34:00.001-07:00

yeah, so I left provo. I'm sorry if that was a surprise for anyone, but a series of events made me really want to go home, and I didn't have much left to do there, so I left. Things have been fabulous here. I am living at home until I can move into my house in Seattle next month, which can be pretty boring, but at the same time you could have a fabulous day like today.

Last night, my nephews decided that they wanted to stay over at the house. My nephews are a little weird and often do things like this for fun.

This morning we woke up and went to the waterfront park. Thus they begin their battle.

The best thing about the park is realizing that kids will be entertained by rock throwing for hours.

Until spears are shaped and things become somewhat Lord of the Flies-like.

Kind of like American Gladiators. But more primal.

On the dock, the boys spent most of their time trying to spear tiny fish with their sticks.

This photo kind of turned out cool without me trying.

Later on the dock, we got down to business.

Simon: Torsten is trying to make out with it
Me: Do you guys know what making out is.
Torsten: Yeah, its like kissing a lot.
Me: Yeah, I guess.
Simon: Do you and Stephanie make out?
Me: (no comment)

later on...

Torsten: If you keep looking at a girl in the face that's when you know if there is romance.

Later on I played Wii with Torsten and subsequently got really frustrated because he was really totally creaming me at this baseball game. I mean really frustrated -- childish also.

Oh and another part about being in Washington:

Visit me!!

Provo...

2007-07-23T21:02:00.001-07:00

I have a secret.

I am leaving you this week.

Conspiracy Fest

2007-07-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

So you may be wondering what could possibly bring such a fantastic photo about. Well, today I went to the Lavender festival in Mona, Utah, and as a part of it, there was a wild west shoot out. Overall, the acting was horrible and the guns were kind of wussy (except for the shotgun, that was awesome).

My favorite part however, was when some kid with his snow cone just walked onto set, not really caring that he was a part of the action. He just proceeded to eat his snow cone.

Here is the group that I was with: Dave, Nathaniel, Lil Emily, Mindy, Elin, (some girl whose name I didn't catch), and Danny (aka Denny).

There was cool stuff to do there like axe throwing and archery:

The worst idea was probably riding the barrel ride. In the first picture it looks like Nathaniel is having fun.

But in the second, you can tell that things are turning sour. This incident caused Nathaniel to have a headache for the rest of the day.

A Magneto-like helmet will cheer him up though.

So at the end of the day, we were thinking that the Young Living Family Farm was pretty cool. I mean, they have a wild west village plus a medieval village. Plus, kids seem to really like it. Then I took a trip inside of the visitors center. They had a bunch of health food supplement like stuff. At first I kind of just blew it off thinking that the owners are just a bunch of hippies or whatever.

Then, while I am inside I see free samples of this NingXia Red stuff (Which dave had about 8 of). The same stuff had been mentioned earlier in the wild west shoot out, but I wasn't really sure what they were talking about. Then it struck me. Young Living must be a multi-level marketing company. And it is.

Suddenly, the whole experience had changed. I felt like I was being duped...but I guess just a little bit. Because the day was still pretty fun.

Oh, it wouldn't be a lavender festival without this:

The Make a Wish Foundation

2007-07-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

So one of Nathaniel's only Utah wishes was that he would be able to swim in Deer Creek. So today, me and elin helped him make his wish come true. We parked in that spot on the side of the road where you don't have to pay and went down the hill to the resevoir. The water was about 10 feet lower than it usually was, but there were still some good jumping spots. There were a lot of jet skis and boats out and about, we kept hoping that some lonely rich dude would come by and pick us up.

Afterwards we went at Granny's drive-in where we had to wait in line forever because of the family reunion that was in front of us. The food is pretty darn good there, and I ate lots of it, including a milk shake. And spent the rest of the day feeling a little sick.

How's that for a cautionary tale?

Lagoon

2007-07-05T22:41:00.001-07:00

So today I went to Lagoon cause Nathaniel was in town and I wanted to do it before I left this town.

We went with Lee and Lisa, who always complain that they have bad pictures of them, but I like this one.

This is the whole group: Ashleigh, Nathaniel, Mim, Christopher, Lee, and Lisa. We also briefly saw suzanne and her sister.

This is the colossus. I was totally scared of this ride when I was 10 (which is also the last time I went to Lagoon) but today it was really fun.

We rode the carousel sometime during the day. Nathaniel really liked his horse.

Lee and Lisa were trying to make out the whole time but couldn't get it down with the up and down motions of their horses.

The only picture of me in the day. I liked my horse.

Later on we rode the log flume ride. We were convinced that lots of weight would make it more fun, so we created "dude flume". It was pretty fun indeed.

Later on, I kept looking at Mim and she was practicing boxing on Chris.

When we first got to the park we went on Wicked. The beginning of this thing is amazing, you go straight up and then straight down and in the meantime look into the deep reaches of your soul.

Having 7 in our group sometimes caused some problems. So I sat this ride out and took a photo of some of our dudes.

Personal highlight of the day: We went to a show called Electric 80's which was a bunch of kids who weren't around in the 80's singing 80's songs. Anyway, the girl in blue came and sat next to me during one of the songs and called me "boyfriend". It was pretty awesome.

So to anyone: I highly encourage you to travel to Lagoon this summer, even if you are a hater. It is even better than I remember it 17 years ago.

Update On Operations

2007-06-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

So one thing with Mike leaving is that he bequeathed his Tracker vs. Monster 100oz truckers mug to me. My current goal has been to drink one of these full of water everyday in attempt to ward off any threats from my hereditary kidney stones. I have had to pee a lot as a result.

While doing that I've been trying to kick butt on my thesis which I have actually been doing quite well. There has been many days when I realize that I am the only person in the whole of the Brimhall. Oftentimes day or night, you can catch me looking at this thing, trying to make sense out of it. I dare you to take those numbers and write a thesis about them.

However, when I am not working on that or watching a Robert Redford movie (which I have been doing a lot of), I am usually kind of bored. Tonight was no exception -- I was looking for jobs on the internet while watching Cocoon (Yeah, I know -- pathetic) and then I found out these dudes were gonna be stopping through town.

I told Simon (the one on the left) about the White supremacist who killed that Prison guard, he was kind of fascinated by that. Especially cause he thought that the white supremacist was the one who had made Torsten's sandwich at Arby's earlier that day.

So, I'd say everything was in order.

Snow Cone Review #2 (Ella Goods)

2007-06-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

I think I was a little hesitant to go to Ella Good's. It is in that part of Provo that seems to be booming with commerce right now. After the deserved succcess of J-Dawgs, nearly everyone and their mother thought that they could open up a little old shack, sell a little old thing, and make a ton of money (however, I am sure that "The Deli Craze" would tell you differently -- note to them: never open a restauarant in a place where hair was once cut). Plus everytime I drove by, the place was crawling with zoobies -- and I can't stand those people lately. But last night I ventured out, and I was not disappointed.

First of all the place has a ton of selection. They have a lot of flavors to choose from and then they have all these crazy add-ins (I think one was pixie stix). I asked the girl what the best thing I could get was and she told me a pina colada mango with ice-cream -- I submitted. The thing was really good. They put the icecream at the bottom, which makes a pleasant surprise at the end, kind of like a reward for a well fought fight. I think the best part about it was that I wanted to go back and try every combination.

Sorry the lighting is weird:

Here's my rating: (out of 4)
Taste:***1/2
Service:***1/2 (the girl was really nice and likes to talk to you)
Price: Small ($1.50) - Ella Large ($3.50) plus add-ins (25 to 50 cents)

Location on 700 East Provo, just south of 820 N.

The sad part is that my quest maybe over. I don't think I am ready to have another crappy snow cone after this one.

I woke up this morning

2007-06-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

to find that this kid had left provo for good.

We are going to miss him.

More Vacation Reports

2007-06-16T20:29:00.001-07:00

So we did some other fun things while Steph was here. On Thursday night we got to hang out with our new married friends, the Christophersons. After eating at Koko kitchen, we went over to Gilgal Gardens to check out some freaky religious sculptures. I had been here a few years ago with Nathaniel and the Emilys, and let me just say that they did a great job of cleaning the place up.

The happy couple:
With Brother Joseph:
On Saturday, Steph and I went to Summerfest in Orem. She was particularly excited because of the ferris wheel that they had.
The view from the top:

Another day we checked out the wildlife at the Bean Museum on campus. It felt like we were on an African Safari.
What's up Crocodile?!

Whats up everyone!?

Okay thats it, there were plenty of other things done, but no visual proof. Still, they were totally awesome.

Snow Cone Blog (Genesis)

2007-06-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

So last week Steph and I went to a reception in Salt Lake. Afterwards, we met up with Suzanne at Snoasis in Sandy. She claimed it was the best snow cone ever. When we got there, there was a line stretching through the parking lot which took a good half hour to get through. The Snow Cone was amazing. I got Tigers Blood -n- Cream. I have now taken it upon myself to take on a similar quest in Provo this summer (I really have nothing better to do). If anyone would like to be a contributing writer, please let me know.

First up:

Snow Shack
Corner of 3rd South and 6th East, Provo

I rode my bike to this one because it was super close to my house. When I got there, no one was inside, where upon a young man around the age of 14 jumped into the shack. I asked him what his favorite flavor was and he told me Mango-Orange. I ordered a small, which they were out of (this seems like a strange concept, go buy some more paper cups). I got a kiddie instead because I didn't feel like shelling out 3 bucks for shaved ice. I also asked for cream, but apparently they were out of that as well. When I got home, it looked like this:

Kind of pitiful, eh? It tasted pretty good, but it was super slushy. I probably will not be going back.

Ratings: (out of four)
Taste: *1/2
Service: *
Price: Kiddie ($1.50) to Large ($4.00)

Vacation: All I Ever Wanted

2007-06-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

So the research assistant leaves today (sad). But we have had some totally great times while she was here.

One night we decided that we wanted to play catch in the park, so we bought a ball and went to Nielsen's Grove Park in Orem. Stephanie is totally excited:

But when we get together we are totally serious.

It was kind of nice that night.

Then we also got to live like seven-year old kids and spend a day at seven peaks. It was so much fun. My major accomplishment for the day was going doing the boomerang backwards!! Stephanie subsequently found out that I scream like a girl.

Yesterday we left early to beat the heat and hiked a few miles from Aspen Grove to Stewart Falls. I was hoping that it would be flowing with Stewarts Key Lime Soda...but nope, just water.

Apparently Steph thought it was going to be one of those clean hikes, so she was a little disappointed by this.

Last night I decided to return for my second time in 6 years to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti. The best part about the pageant is that you get to look at the temple for a few hours, oh, and it was beautiful outside.

There were so many Mormons there, us included.
You thought that was the end. There is more to come when I get some pictures from Steph's camera. Stay tuned.

It just might be a sweet summer after all

2007-06-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.slcgov.com/arts/twilight/

best. thing. ever.

2007-06-11T01:24:00.000-07:00

or at least one of them:

operation lets do this utah (update 1)

2007-06-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

So I have been in the throngs of teaching and data collecting for my thesis, all in the hopes that I can meet my utah extradition deadline. In order to aid in this process, and to make sure that I am getting enough R&R, I imported a research assistant from Seattle -- her name is Stephanie.

Today, after getting a massive amount of samples collected from a statistics class and eating a massive amount of Ice Cream cones from Macey's (highly recommended), we decided to get cracking on the rest of the list from "Operation let's do this utah".

Todays task was ghost towns. We headed down to Eureka -- which funnily enough I had been to on two previous occasions, and learned that it was a stronghold for methamphetamines in Utah.

Here is my research assistant on the main street.

She's cute...I mean, she is really good at entering data into SPSS.

Eureka is not much of a ghost town. In fact the guy at the general store where I bought a Pepsi Summer mix told me that Eureka was growing with commuters.

The side of his store had a cool old sign.

He also told us that Porter Rockwell's cabin was in town. I thought I had missed it before, but it turns out they brought the thing into town on a big truck. Porter Rockwell had a cool beard. I, unfortunately, do not:

He also told us where we could find some cool abandoned ghosts and stuff. We hiked around for a bit, but couldn't find much.

Stephanie, shouldn't you be crunching numbers?

This is an old something. We checked, there were no ghosts inside.

Sometimes the research assistant tried to get a little too friendly with her gangster pose.

While we didn't find a ton of ghosts or towns, we found some areas ripe for tagging. Stephanie shows off her latest masterpiece. Word!

Oh and technically we saw some mines so you can cross that off the mission list as well. Yes!

The exciting news is that Steph will be here all week. More adventures to follow...

dear nathaniel:

2007-06-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

this is awesome

http://www.seecoy.com/chariotsofmortalkombatfire.html

i miss chris coy.

Summer!

2007-06-04T10:51:00.001-07:00

one month down, three more to go!

birthday boy

2007-05-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

So it was this guys birthday yesterday (that is his birthday present from me in is hand. It is the official trakker vs. monster 100 oz. Maverick truckers mug).

He turned this many years old.

Jessica made this funfetti cake -- it was so good.

Happy Birthday Geek!

tip-a-canoe and tyler (eric) too or the return of creeky

2007-05-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

with the foreknowledge that it was going to be a beautiful friday. We tied Natasha's heirloom canoe onto the Honda Element and drove up to Deer Creek Resevoir for some good ol' recreation. Man those Elements sure are handy:

When we arrived I was left behind during a trip to the potty and was promptly demoted to the carrier of life jackets.

When we got there, our first mission was to rescue our $1.05 inflatable globe. We told ourselves that we were on a mission to save the world.

The Union side of the boat: Jessica and Natasha

The confederates: Me (unshaven with my new $1.05 glasses) and Eric (attempting to show me up with his muscles)
We were talking about swimming, but instead decided to sleep and eat cheez-its. I'd say we made the right decision. We also spun stories about Creeky, the half deer half fish monster that roams these waters.

germany to germany

2007-05-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

So if anyone was wondering where I was last week, I was in germany. I went to work on a film with a friend and one of my professors. Here are some pictures (sorry, there are no pictures of me):

I thought I would be staying with families, but I actually got my own room at a little hotel in a nearby village Bosleben. I liked my room, it came with my own bathroom and a television perfect for watching Zoolander in German.

That whole metal thing is the flusher. Finally I can flush with power.

So the film is about a church in Dornheim where Bach was married. A professor from the BYU goes there every now and then to record cds and give conserts. The people in the area were really hooked on Bach.

Here are my partners in crime.
This is the path that Bach walked on when he got married.

Cole, now famous from MTV2:

Paul -- nice, but can be kind of stinky (especially after Bratwurst).

Professor Cutri, stealer of my iPod.

We were fed by an awesome family, the Poppitz'. This is their dog Amadeus (so I guess they like Mozart, too)

The front entrance of the church in Dornheim:

The church:

An awesome radio:

After we finished the film, we had one day in Frankfurt before we went home. I didn't know what to see, but ended up seeing some churches:

and this rotating table

and some more churches:

Really the churches were the only old buildings standing. Everything else was destroyed in the war. I kind of went everywhere in Frankfurt with a guilt complex -- I didn't mean to destroy all of your architectural history.

Chris gives money to the worst statue guy in history.

I liked this building, they sing opera in it.

Well, that was my trip. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask them because I am bad at documenting such adventures.

Pop Rocks!

2007-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

So as most of the Pop Rocks were graduating (myself not included), we played one of our last shows. The food was delicious (thank you Cox's) and it was great to have many people there who have supported us over the years. We played in the most beautiful venue imaginable, with the entire Utah Valley below us waiting to swallow us whole.

Then when the night came we were still playing. People kept yelling requests (I have a strong suspicion that these people were Cox parents) so we obliged them. All in all, it was a really fun and wonderful night.

This week...

2007-04-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

Mikey and I moved into a new house. This is what it looks like from the outside.

One of my favorite things about it, is that it is on an awesome street in South Provo, that really feels unlike any other place in Provo. It is good, because we are trying to ween ourselves off of this town. We are surrounded by families, one of which is looking for their ferret.

Oh, and the weather has been really nice. In fact, in the past few days we have been to 3 bbq parties, and then later tonight we threw our own.

Man, these burgs were so good. Don't be fooled by the 4 burgers -- there was still only two of us.

Asparagus?! You may think we are going soft. No way, that stuff had so much butter on it that it was no longer good for us and thus fit for our stomachs. Yeah!!!

Thus ends day one of the summer of bbq. More meats to follow.

more proof...

2007-04-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

that la blogotheque is the coolest thing on the web.

I was...

2007-04-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

having a pretty horrible morning at work. I mean really horrible. But then I ate one of these:and things are looking up.

Not to...

2007-04-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

toot my own horn. But I am pretty proud that I went to high school with this kid:

this is not...

2007-04-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

meant to be a commentary or joke on recent events by any means. But I thought this was one of the funniest things I have seen coming out of saturday night live in a while:

my purchases...

2007-04-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

today I did a bit of shopping. Its amazing what two dollars can buy you at Gen X clothing...

and what ten dollars can buy you at deseret industries

Its been a rough period in my life since "la poderosa" was taken from me. However, this bike might fill in that hole. Yes, I realize that it may be a girls bicycle, but just ask me if I care. Do it.

anyone want to name it?

so i...

2007-04-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

had this really weird dream last night. I was at some sort of conference and there were all these bands playing there as well as stand-up comedians. And then I was one of the stand up comedians. I told some really bad jokes about indie bands, but somehow I remember them pretty vividly:

So in my dream I saw that explosions in the sky was playing but I missed them, I was pretty angry.

"So did anyone go see explosions in the sky?"
some shouts from the crowd, "yeah"
"Instrumental bands are funny. I think that band used to have lyrics, but then they decided to get rid of them when people told them that songs about the Wrath of Khan aren't cool"

I think that one got the most laughs

Then I told some Hot Topic joke and offended half the audience and they left. Seriously, I think the joke was "So, whats the deal with hot topic?"

Also in the dream. I was at a barbeque, and one of my students was stealing some rotisserie chicken by shoving it into his jacket. Oh and Jenna Fischer (Pam from the Office) was there, and I was trying to hit on her. But I think she was gettting married to John Krasinski (Jim from the Office).

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't share my dreams anymore.

I think...

2007-04-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

everyone needs to read Mike's blog today...and everyday.

its about time...

2007-04-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

that you guys came over to my house. Morgan is playing (yes, that morgan). Welcome to 2003.

oh forget...

2007-03-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

this thesis thing. I am doing this.

I mean really -- how would this even fly in a department.

"Oh Dr. Randle, so I changed my topic for my thesis...oh and by the way, it is finished and here it is."

Is it like a thesis sweatshop?

Operation let's do this utah (update)

2007-03-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

So in the last week I accomplished several missions from operation let's do this utah, I am sorry that I didn't take pictures of any of them:

Cabela's (indescribable)
This is the Place Monument (the heritage village was closed -- maybe need to go back to that one)
The Red Iguana (not as good as I would hope it would be -- I guess I need to get the mole)
Hickory Kist (pretty awesome sandwich)

Wow, there are a lot of food places on there. Regardless, I still have much to do -- I have won the battle, but I am losing the war.

i just...

2007-03-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

got to spend my week with this girl:

I consider myself pretty lucky.

Now, back to work on Operation Let's Get the Job Done and Get the Hell out of here!

if anyone...

2007-03-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

has seen my bike around let me know. It went missing from my house today. It is a red, free spirit ten speed, with "la poderosa" spraypainted on the side.

is it...

2007-03-20T17:39:00.001-07:00

booger season? I swear, they just won't quit.

national corndog day...

2007-03-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

is that really a holiday?

I went to a party tonight and that's all that there was to eat.

oh, and this guy provided the entertainment.

my obsession...

2007-03-14T21:51:00.001-07:00

with this song is unhealthy.

vs.

2007-03-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

vs.

Who will win?

holy crap....

2007-03-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

so we kind of got addicted to guitar hero last night at a ward activity. but after watching this kid -- I know that I have miles to go.

I think... (Spiral Jetty)

2007-03-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

I will make a list of places in Utah that I need to visit before I blow this joint. We decided that the weather was getting nice, and today was as good as any day to start on the list, so we made the venture up to the spiral jetty.

Jessica is driving. Over her shoulder are cargo things on trains. Mike told us that his grandpa came up with the idea to stack them....Prove it!!

On the way to the spiral jetty, you can stop off at Golden Spike national park. It is where the transcontinental railroad was completed. Jessica is representing the Union Pacific railroad, while Mike is representing the Central Pacific.

Oh yeah. And there is no golden spike there. It is in some museum...I think it is time for a namechange.

After the museum you have to drive a while to get to the jetty, but sometimes we would get views like this and other times we would talk to cows.

After driving forever on the rockiest road ever we got to the jetty. Only to find out that it had sunk. Bogus!!

If you can't tell, it is in the shape of a spiral.

Then I took a picture of myself because I don't like asking people to take pictures of me. I just got my hair cut -- don't worry mom.

Then we found some junk. I totally couldn't figure out why people would come out to that area and leave their big buoys. But jessica figured out that it was to stand on.

Then I found this formation. It was kind of like a pier and kind of like a house, but it is in the middle of nowhere. I think aliens have something to do with it.

All in all, we were left with a lot of unsolved mysteries (cue Robert Stack), and full bellies from big bacon burgers in Ogden.

Phase one of Operation let's do this Utah is complete.

Stay tuned for future missions, including:

National Parks
Ghost Towns
Lagoon
Dugway Proving Grounds
Mines

Feel free to offer mission suggestions and/or invite yourself to be a part of an expedition.

so once...

2007-03-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

this girl took photos of my band playing a show and then my thesis chair sends this link to me in an email:

http://newsline.byu.edu/487/flash/slideshow2.swf

this dude...

2007-03-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

kind of rules my world most of the time. I can't believe that my family's genes could produce something as totally rad as him.

In other news not much has been happening -- although I am convinced that literature reviews are of the devil.

this post...

2007-03-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

is completely for nathaniel, but I guess others can look as well.

http://eeuauaughhhuauaahh.ytmnd.com/

remember when...

2007-03-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

we did this show? That was pretty fun.

I need...

2007-02-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

an alternative name for my thesis. I am actually starting to get some work done on it, and it is occuring to me that it might actually be done sometime this year, but I am really tired of saying to people: "I'm just working on my thesis". So I'm thinking something like "Operation ______". I like:

Operation Iraqi Freedom (too political)
Operation Dumbo Drop (too awesome)

suggestions?

getting home from band practice...

2007-02-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

I was pretty hungry. Then I had this great idea. I took the green curry and some rice that I had made earlier that day.

And placed it inside of a tortilla.

And made it into a wrap/burrito.

It wasn't bad. It's my two favorite foods, combined into one.

Do you think I could open a restaurant with this idea?

I was...

2007-02-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

looking at jobs today. I still have no idea what I can do except for maybe teach and criticize media. Then I thought that I would probably end up doing movies again and kinda hating my life.

One time I did do this really funny movie called Propensity. Actually, it was really serious and about suicide and all that. The filmmakers were well intentioned and very sincere in their efforts, but there were some moments on set when I had to hold back my laughter.

Oh, and Jason Bateman's dad was in the movie, he played the devil (the guy in black in the photo). I ate breakfast with him one morning at Denny's. I think he is a somewhat well accomplished actor and producer, but the whole time I just wanted to talk about Teen Wolf Too.

what a movie should be

2007-02-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

So I think the greatest thing about the movie was the idea that we had behind it. It came about because we were going to show the awesome Thai martial arts film Ong Bak in a market right in front of our house. This was going to be a huge event, Scott even had gotten on the radio to tell people about it. As a bonus, we decided that we wanted to make a short film involving members of the community to play before the film. We spent the afternoon shooting it -- it was a lot of fun, and frik was a great sport about it -- even when we asked him to be affectionate towards a girl in public (this is kind of a no-no in thai culture). We did all the sound effects with our mouths, and the whole rotee in the eye was probably the inspiration for the corn in the eye on Nacho Libre. In the end we felt that we had constructed a new model for films -- a user created construction by a community for a community.

I think about 4 people showed up.