I'm Moving! Yikes!

It has been some time since I have got my blog on. I thought I would give you a quick update up what is happening in the life of Caleb. It is my birthday tomorrow. I turn 29. scary.

The biggest news is that I am moving back to Utah at the beginning of the month. My time in Arizona has unfortunately come to an end. This makes me pretty sad because I have grown to love it here. I have many great friends and associates and my 2 loving sisters as well. I will miss sibling lunches. I loved being so close to you and getting to see you as often as I did. Now Brttiany and Kara won’t have reason to be so jealous.

The reason for the move is because I am in desperate need of employment and I have a company up there that is going to let me do work. I am going to be a Private Investigator. I worked with this company before I moved to Arizona and they said they woud be happy to have me back.

During my time in Utah I plan on expanding my skill set and taking some classes that will take me to the graphic design side of marketing. I need to learn how to use InDesign and Illustrator so I can be more marketable. It also opens other doors and resources. I will be able to once again judge snowboard competitions, maybe coach some soccer, and also reunite with some close friend whom I have missed while in the AZ.

I don’t look forward to moving and I am still hunting for a place to live. I never thought I’d move back to Utah. Not that it is all that bad of a place but it just wasn’t part of my plan…but then again neither was getting laid off. I’ll blog more, I don’t want to wear you out with all these words and no pictures.

Les Miserables

So last night I was lying in bed listening to Les Miserables and it almost brought me to tears. The music and the words are so touching and meaningful. It just hit me. I was listening to Fantine sing I Dreamed a Dream. Some of the lyrics are “He slept a summer by my side. He filled my days with endless wonder. He took my childhood in his stride but he was gone when autumn came. And still I dream he’ll come to m, that we will live the years together. But there are dreams that cannot be and there are storms we cannot weather.” The performers do such a wonderful job of emoting. The story itself is one full of love, loss, triumph and tragedy. It plays on so many levels. From the rise of Jean Valjean to the demise of Javier, the finding love between Cosette and Marius to the hopeless desires and unrequited love Eponine has for Marius. It is a moving story and I was struck again with this realization.

It takes me back to high school when I did a book report on Les Mis. I never read the book…shoot it is like 1200 pages, but I knew the story. I’d sing the words of the songs to myself and write down the plot from that process. I got an A+. J I remember when my sister Kara did a dance to On My Own, I’m pretty sure it is my dad’s favorite dance of hers…ever. Kara may wonder why but it really isn’t a big mystery. It was a moving song and beautiful dance strung together seamlessly. Duh. The first time I went to see Les Mis I was maybe 13 and I went with Justin Wilde and his family. Paul, Justin’s dad gave me a brief summary of the plot line and off we went. I may have drifted off a bit during the 2^nd half but we had just come from a camping trip.

Mariokart Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

When I first went in with my roommate to purchase a Nintendo Wii, my first question was, “when does Mariokart come out?” That day arrived and it was worth the year long wait.

What a fantastic game. I love it.

The game came out Sunday morning at midnight. So we waited at Wal-Mart for the clock to strike twelve. We rushed home and played a few games. The next night we invited a bunch of people over to play. (You can play with up to 4 people at one time.) Everyone got a turn.

Monday rolled around and last time I checked I didn’t have a job. So I woke up and got to playing it. I literally played all day. A day has never passed so quickly. I think that is a bad thing because you can sit down and play for hours and not even know it.

Well let me tell you what…I knew it on Tuesday! I almost burned my eyeballs off. I have never seen them so bloodshot in my life. I felt bad for doing that to myself. Clear Eyes and Visine couldn’t get the job done. Terrible.

It doesn’t help that we are able to project the game on to an 8-foot screen with a hi-def projector. So Mario and Luigi are literally life-size. It’s awesome. Another new feature is that you can play online again up to 11 other racers from around the country or the world. So there I am screaming at some Japanese guy who ran into a guy from England and knocked me off the track. Of course they can’t hear me but the emotion and passion are real as ever. It feels good beating an international field of gamers who are probably just little kids. I guess its better to think that I am racing people my own age. I am comforted in knowing that at least you play people who have a similar ranking as you. So regardless of age they are supposedly the same skill…but that doesn’t really settle the soul either.

I love it. If you have one and play online ever, get at me and we can be friends and race each other online. AWESOME!

Virginia Tech and Gun Control

Today hundreds of protests were held across the country to make people aware of the year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting. These protestors laid on the ground for 3 minutes to represent the time it took for the guy who shot up the place to buy a gun.

I don’t think that “gun control” is the answer…to anything. It may cause more problems than is solves. When it comes down to it crazy people, that are going to shoot up a school or place of business, are just crazy people. Motivated crazy people are going to find guns one way or another. There really isn’t an effective or reasonable way to control that.

Let’s face it; MOST of the people that buy guns do so for perfectly legitimate reasons. MOST people buy guns for recreation or personal protection. MOST people who buy guns are responsible. MOST people hope they never have to use a gun to protect themselves. It is my guess that MOST the people who legally get concealed weapons permits are not the people you have to worry about shooting places up. When you go about the legal process, you are trained, your background is checked, your finger prints taken; its not really a process someone who plans on breaking the law and killing a bunch of people would go through. I’d like to see some statistics about homicides committed by those with a CWP and people with out.

Codes of Conduct and rules at Virginia Tech said that guns were not allowed on campus. So when that was passed over a year before the shooting, law-abiding citizens and students wouldn’t have guns on campus…just the people that didn’t care for the rules. Did you ever think that if those ‘gun control’ had not been there someone legally carrying a gun on campus might have blasted that dude before he killed so many unarmed innocent people? I carried a gun legally on campus when I was at school. Luckily nothing ever went down where I had to use it. Just thought I would bring it up as something to think about.

The Daily Show Clip

I thought this was a crack up. So check it out.

Just for the Taste of it, Diet Coke!

Coke is it!

Charlie Bit Me

Watch both. They are both funny for their own reasons and each is less than a minute long.

Charlie Bit Me - Original

Charlie Bit Me - Remake

5 Rants

A few things have been on my mind recently that may or may not be blog worthy but nonetheless I will rant henceforth.

1.
Why on earth is the US congress involved with the steroid issue in baseball? I see it as a vast waste of time and money for a bunch of elected officials so sit around and listen to testimony about whether or not Roger Clemens took steroids or HGH. Last time I checked Major League Baseball was a private enterprise and Congress was a Government entity. Neither, in my opinion, really have any business with each other on any level.

First of all where does Congress even get off saying they are people of high enough moral fiber to decide which players are “dirty” or to make a judgment call like this and say that what these players did was wrong? A bunch of dirty, corrupt politicians taking issue with something like this is an oxymoron and it makes me mad. Go spend my tax dollars on something better…like how to build a satellite that won’t fall out of orbit after a year…

2.
I have started substituting my signature with “I’m Awesome” instead. Its way more fun to do and I’m pretty sure no one really cares. It reminds me of when Kara used to make checks out to King Poopers instead of King Soopers. As long as people are getting their money…AWESOME.

3.
On the awesome topic, I was on SportsCenter Super Bowl week. I was in Scottsdale, where supers babes flock and reside, at the location where many of the ESPN shows were being filmed. I happened to have brought with me a sign I made. It simply reads: I’M AWESOME. Yes folks, I was one of those annoying people in the background…except I brought a little something to the table, vain self-promotion.

4.As for the Super Bowl, we will not speak of it.

5.
I went to the NFL experience out at the UOP Stadium. It wasn’t as cool as I hoped it would be. It was more focused on making sure kids had fun. That is fine and all but what about the “never-has-been-wanna-bees?” I got skills! Had I been a little taller and a little faster, I could have made a name for myself. What about me? There were a few things that I was able to participate in; throwing footballs at different things. Let me say this: at each station, I executed with precision. I rolled out and hit the target dead center on the run, I avoided would be interceptors and hit my receiver both times, and I also held the Thursday record for throwing a football 56 mph. The guy at the station said I was the fastest he’d seen all day. I took a bit of joy in that but I would have liked to been a little kid so I could have played all the other games as well.
Have a great day people.

Super Tuesday

Please don't vote for John McCain. I won't tell you to vote for someone in particular...but how about anyone else. I can't stand him. To me, he is everything that is wrong with Washington and our Government. And he's old and crotchety and a douche and I hate him.

Provo River Rafting - May 2005

This is how the Provo River usually looks.

This is how we ride the Provo River.

This is some home video that was finally put to music and edited for everone's enjoyment. The final part of the video was filmed near the Bonneville movie studio, near the Taco Time, and Movies 8 and just up river from Bon Losee. See Map

Shot at the end of May 2005, this rafting expedition was during the maximum flood stages for winter run off. The river was running fast that day. She almost took our lives. We came upon a bridge that wasn't seen on the initial scouting report. The water a swelled up and there was only about a foot of clearance. We weren't going to make it under. We aimed for the shore but she was moving too quickly. We got hold of some branches and tried to pull our way through the thick branches and debris. The rivers fury was too much and flipped the raft over. I ended up underneath the raft which floated upside-down under the bridge. I tried to get out from under the raft but my life jacket wouldn't allow me to get under the raft. I was too bouyant. After struggling to get free I was rescued by Dave Beck, Mark Dalecki, and Scott. They were able to catch up to the raft and flip it over. We lost 2 oars but escaped with our lives.

Awesome Video

If I knew how to embed this on my blog I would because it is the funniest thing I have seen in a really long time.

CLICK HERE and get ready to laugh.

Blastin the Glocks

In early November I went out with a group of friends camping near Payson. It was there that we ate bountifully, shot thousands of rounds, rode quads, and sat around a campfire and told stories. It was a lot of fun.

Also I just found these pictures on flickr, linked my blog and posted it directly from Flickr to my blog. If it seems random it is because I am experimenting with new techmology...to me anyways. And certain people have complained "you don't post enough pictures." or maybe it was, "I hate blogs that don't have pictures." Either way I listen and can take advice, just one more thing that makes me awesome.

Its Back...O Holy Crap!

I had to bring this one back (again) for the holidays. It is the best worst sung version of O Holy Night. Honestly it is so bad you have to wonder how this guy didn't explode. Take 4 minutes...please. You'll have a smile on your face and you'll feel better in a weird way.

CLICK HERE

Poem of the Week - Part 7

This one goes out to Miss Mason. She is a classy lady who I am quite fond of. **Note: this is a different Brooke than the post about A Crooked and Babbling Brooke. Here is the story.

Back in the day I met Brooke through a mutual friend. We became friends and I had this thing for her. Here was my problem. She had this other roommate that I also found attractive. So I tried to figure out if I had a chance with either of them. In doing so I was able to alienate both.

I wanted to make out with the other girl because she had that draw. She did something to my loins…I think they yearned for her. Brooke on the other hand, equally attractive, desirable...and a definite yearning, but is the kind of girl you don’t just roll and bone out. You hang onto her because she is smart, classy; she’s got this smile that makes your eyes think they have been resurrected and able to see heavenly things. I can’t get enough of it. I could probably just stare at her face all day. Her eyes are like gold and milk chocolate had a baby. She’s got long dark hair that Pantene commercials brag about.

So there I am…torn. Loins vs. Commitment and Meaning. So it was hard for me to decide what I wanted. You know that old, have your cake and eat it too, adage? Well, I would have liked both and I guess I made that too obvious because as I said, I didn’t get to enjoy either of them.

A lyric comes to mind now as I reflect on that attempt. It is a song called Dirty Mouth, from a Utah band that I really like called The Devil Whale. “I never made my intentions clear/I held them all in.” I don’t know if I ever did a good job at telling her how I felt. I saw her this past weekend when I visited Utah and I could have slapped myself. I told her I would make my next post about her because I had a poem about her. This poem in its original form ended up on her door one night randomly. I don’t know if I signed it or if she ever got it. So here you go Brooke. So here are my intentions, clearly. I don't know if they have changed all that much. I'd still date her til she loved me or couldn't stand me.

Miss Mason

If you were on the phone
I’d say I’ve been acting dumb
Wanting to be with you
But never being with you
I want to kiss you
I’ve cried because I’ve missed you
Now I think I have lost you
And it’s causing me to pause and see
What you really meant to me
I looked at you and Brooke it’s true
Every time you spoke to me
I wanted to be
The guy that you’d decide
To stand by through hard times
I wanted to be there for you
If you had a bad day at school
I wanted you to call me from the ticket booth
And tell me how your day has been
I wanted to be there
When things were good
And if things went bad
Or if you got mad
I wanted to be there
To make you laugh
So hard you’d cry
And you’d forget why
You were mad in the first place
This is why I’ve been acting strange
This is why I feel insane
And why I say the things I say
I’m secretly, madly in love with you
And you don’t know
And I can’t tell you
I’m scared that you’ll hate me
Not want to see me
Or come near me
So I go on hurting inside
But outside I’m fine

Poem of the Week #6

Desert Lands

This truely is a desert.
Abandoned. Deserted. Desolate. Barren.
Its not easy to live, to exist.
Yet despite knowing this, I journey in.
I do not resist.
With cantene depleating
And no thoughts of retreating,
only humbling feelings.
I'm not the explorer I dreamed I'd be.
A fleeting dream of succeeding immediately.
Its hard. Its hard to Be.
The oasis I need is avoiding me.
In some time I'll find one.
Until then I will ration my supplies
and try to last through the desert skies.
The seemingly endless sand.
Cold bitter nights.
Scorching sun and relentless heat.
Though I'm facing defeat,
I cannot retreat,
choosing instead to rise to my feet.
That one day release from this tedious feat will be my prize.

This poem seemed fitting because I am out of a job and looking for a new one. A new job is what brought me to Arizona in the first place and that is what this poem is about. So if you hear of anything, anywhere, in the marketing field or something you think I'd be good at, give me a holler.

I moved to Arizona in January of 2006. I was starting a new life, and a new job; I didn’t know anyone. I went to my ward the first Sunday and was flabbergasted. I got there a few minutes early and chose a seat in the overflow section between the chapel and the gym, right in the middle of the row. Suddenly, they open the accordion door and unveil that the gym is full of chairs as well. People filled the chapel, the overflow, the gym. There were nearly 500 people at church and I didn’t know a soul.

My plan was to be outgoing and the fun new guy. But I was intimidated. They read like 15 names of the new people and I felt lost in a crowd. My plans weren’t as easy as I had uh…planned.

A few weeks of living in Arizona and I scribbled this poem down on the back of a program. It was a tough adjustment. Making new guy friends is especially tough. You wouldn’t think so but it is. I’ll tell you about it later.