California Road Trip

I had to get out. So I did. I took a small group of friends with me in my new Jeep back to the Bay. It started on a Thursday, we drove through a snow storm in Nevada. But after a long 13 hour drive we made it to Carmel where we stayed at my mom's place. Its a magical little house. The view is never disappointing and the weather, which usually is, was not at all.
James, Rachel and I spent Friday playing on beaches. We first roamed the Carmel River Beach just below the house. We then made out way down the coast to Pfeiffer State Beach. That's James running with some kelp. We got in the ocean and froze, James nearly to death.

Saturday we picked up Brady at the Monterey Airport and went to the Aquarium. It was a little disappointing because their deep water tank was closed. No sharks or tuna. Sad. We left the coast and headed to a place called The High Life in San Jose. It was a restaurant James saw on Man vs Food. All BBQ, it was delish.
The Red Sox were in town playing the A's so we went to the game and had a good time, though the Sox lost. (they were playing their B team essentially.) After the game we left for Alamo and spent the next couple days. Sunday we went to Church and then made a run to the Oakland Temple. Kara and her family came over and had lunch Sunday afternoon. I love her.

Monday was a day into the City. San Francisco is a great city. Somehow we ended up on a double decker sightseeing bus. I got the "locals" discount aka Free.99. Keith was our tour guide and he let me do some guest commentating. He liked what I was doing and offered me a job. We will see what happens with that. We drove through Golden Gate Park (bigger than I thought) and ended up at the beach. There were some kids playing soccer so Brady and I joined and played for a few minutes. We also found a great little park with some nice views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Tuesday came and it was time to drive back to Utah. All in all it was a welcomed trip. I think all of us involved had a great time. I want to thank my mom and dad for being so hospitable and letting us crash at your places. I love you both. Thank you x3.

The Real San Francisco Treat

We found this little park in the back of a residential neighborhood and got a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the late afternoon. It was a perfect end to a fun day in the City.

Carmel by the Sea

The sun was dropping fast but I was able to get a quick shot of it before it went down.

I Could Be a Chef.

I got a little chef-sie on it. Pan seared, macadamia nut encrusted ahi tuna steak, cooked medium rare, on wild rice and topped with a freshly made tropical mango salsa. Its really good.

Naming my Baby

I have found that getting my new vehicle has caused me to dig a little deeper and has brought about new challenges in life that may prepare me for some kind of relationship one day.

For example.

1) I have, a good word for it is coasted, the past couple of years in a job that, while I have been there, enjoyed and learned, but found myself under employed and just getting by. The car has caused me to seek better, more lucrative employment and bring about a new grown spurt my marketing career.

2) Number One has caused me to realize that this car is my new longest relationship. I have a 75 month commitment thrust upon me, which I don't mind because it has caused me to get my butt in gear. (one of the big reasons I decided to purchase)

3) Because of #2 and my new found commitment, I have to take good care of it. I realize that this is here for the long haul and I need to treat it right.

Most importantly, today I took it on a little mini-expedition in the hills behind where I live. (Its full of dirt trails that wind their way about. Now in light of #3, I was being very careful not to over exert us.) But I found out during this off road rant that my vehicle is a Girl! I found myself saying, "oh She does so well!" "She drives like its asphalt."

This brings me to my point...I have to name this girl.

I'm not yet sold on any of these names and something may just come to me one day. But so far, here are the ones I have kinda narrowed it down to and the reasons why.
*Bianca, which means white, is also the name of one of the moons that orbits Uranus. Plus you can yell, 'Come on B!' and its OK.
*Faith, I will need some in order to keep her.
*Hannah, I like the name and if you can get past Montana, the Hebrew word "Hannah" has many meanings and interpretations, including "beauty" and "passion" both are qualities she possesses.
*Victoria, named of course for victory, and being a Goddess back in the day. Plus, she's a vampire, Queen of England, a Beckham, and this cute blonde girl I used to know that played soccer.
*Serena, they are built the same way, solid. Plus, the Williams sister is often wearing white on the court.

Let me know what you think. There is a picture below in my last post so you can see her. She looks like an angel in the sun light. She's got every possible option, she's fully loaded to say the least.

*

A NUUUUUUEW CAR! (Bob Barker Voice)

The News!

First of all, I bought a new car. Well, SUV. I painfully and reluctantly let go of my beloved Subaru WRX. Part of it due to necessity, I'm getting my ankle fused and pushing a clutch isn't really an option during the recovery process. The other reason was because it had 115000 miles and I was going to have put a bunch of money into it.

There it is driving away...

I put the car up on KSL and had 3 offers in less than 24 hours, all prices I was happy with. What happened is the car salesman I work with when buying new cars for Centurion Security heard I was in the market and found me a new ride. He put the heat on me big time and I totally caved.

I ended up with a deal I couldn't say no to and an opportunity to push myself to advance my career. Its a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee Larado with every single option available. Remote start, sunroof, navigation, dvd, bluetooth, a/c plug, iPod connectivity, 5.7 liter Hemi V-8, reverse camera, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. Its white and beautiful and I love it. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it. That's my motivation. Get a better job, make the payments...its all good. I'm scared and excited.


The other crazy news is that a guy I was trying to serve divorce papers to had committed suicide in the house. Luckily I wasn't around when it happened, nor was I there when the cops rolled up. I want to tell you more about the story but not tonight. You have enough.

A Few of My Favorites

A List? Why Not?

Top 5 Movies
Back to the Future
Transformers
O Brother Where Art Thou
Real Genius
The Count of Monte Cristo

Top 3 Artists
Dashboard Confessional
Eminem
Pink Floyd

Top 5 Played Songs on my iTunes (Since December)
Water and Bridges – Dashboard Confessional
I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers
Falling Down – Ben Jelen
What I wanted to Say Was – Dashboard Confessional
Gravity – John Mayer

Top 5 TV Shows (on TV)
Psych
House
The Mentalist
NCIS
TMZ

Top 5 Video Games
Golden Eye – N64
MarioKart – Wii
MarioKart – N64
Call of Duty – Modern Warfare – Wii
RC Pro Am – Nintendo

Top 5 Video Games songs
Excitebike
Tetris ----> cooler version
Super Mario Brothers ---> cooler version
Spy Hunter
Mike Tyson's Punch Out – Bike Interlude

Night Mind Games

Its night time. My mind tends to race at this hour. I have trouble turning it off. I have the craziest thoughts on nights like these. I never remember any of them clearly. I think there should be more Mental Foreplay in your lives.

Tonight though, instead of letting my mind race aimlessly, I have spent probably the last 2 hours looking over my blog, rereading many of the posts. Since I joined the world of blogging in 2005, this is my 192nd post. I am so glad I decided to start a blog. In the process I have learned something about myself: I am amazing. In so many ways I am amazing!

I don't know if anyone really reads this or looks forward to reading my posts. I found myself laughing at myself, how I write things. I wish you could read the words the way I want them to sound. There are gems in these posts. I love them. I am so happy I have them.

I am in this blog. You can find me here. If you have questions, search the posts. They have Me written all over. If you have a question for me that still needs answering, simply comment and I will respond. I will happily answer any question that is asked in sincerity.

Summer Time!

I postponed my ankle fusion surgery that was supposed to happen in 4 days. It happened about a month ago, on the 3rd of July actually. The day was so enjoyable and fun that I convinced myself I could put off the surgery for a couple more months in order to have a little bit more fun.

Everything has been going according to plan...except the part where I forgot that it meant being in more pain. Its manageable I guess. The most frustrating part is not being able to execute what my mind knows its been able to do in the past.

For example, I was trying to play softball a couple weeks ago and while I am still good enough to hang in there and handle my business, my range and mobility have suffered irreparable damage. My brain says, you got that grounder to the left or that pop out foul ball and then I go to take a step and a flood of pain and I can't get there. My my responds much faster than my body can. I still have a great arm and solid bat but I can hardly run the bases and I become a liability. Its probably the most annoying thing about the situation.

All in all though I really have been enjoying myself. Provo in the summer is actually more fun than you would expect. Real Salt Lake games, fireworks displays, rope swings, camping, fire pits, grilling, playing catch, giant water slides, golf, road trips, summertime movies, parties, and the list goes on. I am going to try and live it up before I have 4-5 months of recover from this impending surgery. I don't know when the date is yet but probably looking at October. So there is still some time and I look forward to it, in pain or not.

Its a Celebration!

I celebrated my 31st birthday on the 18th with a BANG! It started off with a breakfast at my house at 730am with a bunch of people. We are eggs and bacon and waffles and orange slices in preparation for the USA World Cup match where they came from 2-0 down to tie the match and almost win. It was great.

The rest of the day was filled with more World Cup soccer, a little bit of work and then we got ready for the party. Here is a picture of the flier we passed around to hype the party. At Applebees Karaoke on the Tuesday before the party, a friend and I performed a rousing rendition of Coolio's Gangsters Paradise as further party promotion. It was awesome!

Yes, it was a 90's throwback Hip Hop party. Back to the songs of my high school dances and the Golder Era of Rap.

I have a buddy, shout out to Clayton Carter, that is a DJ and has all the equipment one would need to toss it up properly. Somehow, through a girl in my ward, we were able to secure a venue that was more than perfect. It was a warehouse in an industrial area just a couple miles from my house. This means no cops and plenty of room.

As we set up and the music was pumping through the speakers I got really excited. Everything was set up and at about 1030 people started coming. Then more people and more people! At the peak there were probably about 130 people in there.I was wearing my old high school football jersey to commemorate the celebration. I even gave my other jersey to an old Monte Vista High School alum, Katy MacDonald.
Hot babes and bangin music made the night unforgettable and something that I will probably try to do again later in the summer.
I also got a gym pass, just like I asked for! Thanks to my sisters and mom for taking care of me. I've been to the gym twice already! I'm making it a goal to get there and exercise at least 3 times a week. I can't say I love going but I am aware of the benefits and so for the sake of skinny I will go. Plus, it was an investment by my family and I am not going to waste their money.

So thank you to all who attended the party or gave me birthday wishes throughout the day. It was one of my most memorable birthdays ever!

Birthday Wishes

UPDATE:

I hope I don't get 15 Clappers since its the only affordable thing on there...hahaha.

* I would like the USA to beat Solvenia in the World Cup that day.
** iTunes, Costco, or other gift cards are always welcome.


My Birthday is coming up June 18th and I usually don't have any idea what I want...except I do this year! The only problem is that I feel bad asking for stuff, especially when it is expensive stuff. So that is why it is just a wish list.

1. The MyTouch Slide from T-Mobile. My phone is almost 2 years old and it is time for an upgrade. Its probably not something you can buy for me because I am sure I can get a better deal by talking with T-Mo myself.

2. The Clapper/Smart Clapper. I used to have one for nearly 15 years but it shorted out on me last year and I haven't gotten a new one yet. I miss it so much!

3. A Gold's Gym Membership. Let's face it, I'm fatter then ever I need to get my weight loss on. I'm also as broke as ever and can't afford a gym pass on my own.

That's all I got for now but check back in case I figure out some other things. :)

Songs from the Past, Presently

I was just listening to some songs off the old iPod and I find it amazing that a song can bring a specific and often distant memory to the forefront of the mind. So with that inspiration I am going to rattle off a few song that, every time I hear them, bring me to some place or some person somewhere in the past.

Lydia O – Milkshake – Kelis I don't know how this came to be but with out doubt Lydia pops into my mind. Maybe its the video... On occasion I will send her a text when it comes on.

Brooke T – Right Thurr – Chingy I was waaaaay into this girl and during that time period this song became popular on the airwaves. At times when we were together we would hear this song and just dig it together and laugh at the lyrics, “Gimme what you got for a pork chop, she threw it at me like I was short stop, twerkin in a fatty girl halter top, then she backed it up for and let it drop.” IT still makes me laugh a little when ever I hear it.

Brooke Reeve Sampson – Look Away – Chicago On some ski lift when I was about 8, Brooke and I were alone on the lift. This song was a smash hit but our comedic genius and maybe somewhat inspired by Weird Al's brilliance and popularity came up with alternate words to the chorus. “If you see me walking my dog and it goes poo-pee on me, run away, baby run away. Because the smell is so intense, it will drive you into a fence, run away, baby run away. Don't come near me, I don't want you to smell me this way.” Amazing I know.

Kacie C – Groovy Kind of Love – Phil Collins Kacie was one of the first girls I actually REALLY liked when I got home from my mission. She was a local Orem girl that had some sort of spell on me. I once took her to the top of Squaw Peak on a date and watched Gone in 60 Seconds on a laptop in the back seat of my Jeep. Maybe influenced by Jim Lee's Tactics of Awkwardness (he should write a book) it was my goal to NOT make out with up there. And I didn't! I don't know how this song and this girl came together but there you have it.

Nicole S – Dusk and Summer – Dashboard Confessional I have posted about her in the past and specifically mentioned this connection before. The story can be found here and the poem inspired by the song here.

Sara B – Saints and Sailors – Dashboard Confessional Sara was a girl from back home around the way. She was a few years younger than me and went to a different church ward and school. We never really got acquainted until after my mission. She came out to Utah and I fell for her. She inspired several poems after I felt she made me feel like I was only the guy that was there to get her acclimated to the area. She had a hold on me though. “ You smile like a saint but you curse like a sailor and your eyes say the jokes on me.” That's how she was and I loved it.

Dalee M - Freak Like Me - Adina Howard, This song comes on now and again on my iPod and this one time it came on and a wife of one of my best friends heard it and was totally singing along and told me how she and her girls used to love this song back in the day. What makes it memorable is that I never expected her to have that background in music. I think is surprised her hubby too. Either way its funny to me and it deserves to make the play list.

Family Trips – Milli Vanilli, George Micheal, Abba's Greatest Hits Volume 2 and Eric Carmen's Make Me Lose Control. Family vacations took place regularly at my house and so many times music was involved in the car ride. Milli Vanilli was on a road trip to Bar Harbor Maine. George Micheal was the 1988 Reeve Family Reunion in Missouri. We'd sing all his songs that came on the radio (which was ALL THE TIME), we didn't complain, just sang along. Abba, there isn't a specific trip in mind but needless to say it traveled with us on more than one occasion. Make Me Lose Control was Branson Missouri...maybe 1988 again. I remember hearing this song on a tree covered winding road on the way to Silver Dollar City (had to look it up).

Shout out to the internet and youtube for making it so easy to link to these songs. I was watching War Games last night (1983) and research was so HARD! We have it so easy these days.

Random Humor on the Trip

The ferocious FeMullet was spotted at the Atlanta Airport on my way home and I had to take a picture of it.

This was from a bar outside the Emirates Stadium Underground stop.

And this is the layout of one of the Barcelona Airport Terminals. HA! Its like an Austin Powers joke waiting to happen.

And to continue with the theme for a moment more. This is something that belongs on the Jay Leno show headlines segment.

This was a motorized sweeper that the Barca Airport.


Okay, this doesn't look funny from here there is a story behind it. This is another monument to Christopher Columbus. When we walked by the next day someone had hung a poster on one of the doors of this monument of a Native American with a headdress and everything saying something to the effect of, "you stole my land." Funny because if the 2 weren't paired together there is no humor.

On the tour bus we saw this sign. Apparently you either have to have an entire burger or no burger, just make sure its not a partially eaten burger.

This sign, a few blocks outside of Neu Camp Stadium, is awesome because of its blatant message. Its not saying DON'T play soccer, but that it is inevitable, so be careful.

I thought this was random...why they gotta be naked with the bull? What's the point?

This was great. In the middle of the street at a stop light these two guys got out of their cars to yell at each other. Nobody won and it didn't come to blows but the bus we were on had enough and blasted them with his air horn. You love to see a good argument now and again.


This was supposed to be a picture but I accidentally took video. Either way it doesn't need an explanation of why its funny. The 'oh no' at the end was realizing it was video not a still. Then I forgot to take a photograph of it!

Trip: Barcelona

Our first night and the next day it rained and was cold. It was our first bout with foul weather and after 12 days you'd expect to run into some. We were fortunate however because the rain stopped when we boarded yet another tour bus of the city. I'm telling, this is the way to go. You get to see the city get off the bus when you are interested in something and then get back on when you are ready to roll out.

One of the first stops we made was Gaudi's (Gow-dee) Sagrada Familia. This dude Gaudi was a modernistic fool. He's one of the famous architects that has several “important” works around the city. This one below was one of them. It echos the waves of the ocean.This one in particular, the Segrada Familia he never finished. He died in 1926 with it only partially finished. What makes it interesting is that it is STILL unfinished. He probably didn't get around to finishing it because it is a monstrosity. The church/family that owns it uses the money from ticket proceeds to work towards its completion. Personally I think is it a disaster. I don't see what his vision was. Maybe when it is complete I will have a better idea. But for now there are cranes everywhere working on this thing. Here are some pictures to let you decide.

With the wet weather impeding our adventuring, we stuck to the buses. Circling the city here and there and seeing the sites. The Olympics were here in 1992 as some of you may remember. We drove past the Olympic Stadium and several other venues. They laid it out in the hills on the west side of the city. Lovely views of the city from up there.

When the soccer tickets were purchased for the Barcelona game the match was scheduled for Wednesday at 2pm. My dad was tooling around on the interwebs and learned that the time had been changed to Tuesday at 8pm. We lucked out because it would have been a big let down to show up and learn that we missed the game or come across some highlights on the news. So that news cut our day a little short but in a good way.

We got to Neu Camp, home of FC Barcelona, current leader of the Spanish La Liga. We walked to our seats and found that they were under the 2^nd level. This was perfect because if the seats were 3 rows closer we'd be sitting in the rain for the entire game. Instead we stayed completely dry. Another little blessing for us. Neu Camp is an 89,700 seat stadium built in the 1950's.

Barca played Tenerife and won the game 4-1! What a site to see the fans, who were more involved than the Madrid fans, cheer on their players. Here is a video of the first goal that I happened to catch on tape.

Messi with 2 goals, Bojan, and Pedro rounded out the scoring for the home team. What a game!

We took the subway back to the hotel but first stopped in at the local McDonalds. Its good to see what foreign Micky Dees have on the menu. Spain features a burger called the NYCrispy. I had been singing and making jokes about it since Madrid, again to the chagrin of my father. The NyCrispy has bacon, crispy onions, tomatoes and cheese with a bun that has cheese and bacon bits baked into it...I know it sounds good, AND IT WAS! It didn't stand a chance. I wanted to sing more!

The next day the weather cleared and we were off to see the city in the light of the sun. We wandered to the old part of the city and went into I big church but we left because it was being bombarded by high school kids and we decided it was time to leave. More walking aimlessly and to be honest I started to get a little bored. I had done a lot of walking over the past 2 weeks and my ankle was hurting badly. We did find cool street that was divided by a giant pedestrian boulevard. Street performers, newsstands, and even pets, bunnies and birds! I convinced my dad to get on another tour bus and take a tour of the ocean front. This is where the Olympic Village was back in 92. I got close to the Mediterranean Sea, saw the beaches and wanted to jump in.

We journeyed back to the hotel because I was exhausted physically and it was still only 3pm. After a siesta, my dad and I got together to talk some business. I am looking at starting a business and I just need some direction. Who better than a venture capitalist? That's what they do!

Dinner and packing and sleep. The morning came with breakfast and a sad goodbye. Followed with 22 hours of travel from door to door. Safe and sound I finish this from my chair in my room. What a trip! It was so fun! Lots of memories and I am glad there are blogs and pictures to back it up. I hope you enjoyed the journey with me. Thank you Dad, I love you and I am more thankful now than before I left.

Trip: Madrid - Day 3 and 4

Sunday was a lovely day in Madrid. We got a late start because...well, I felt like it and some strategy. I knew that we had a limited amount of things to do and a certain time frame to do them. So we left and went to The Prado Museum.

We saw “masterpieces,” (I put it in quotes because I think rating something like a painting is totally subjective and most times I have a hard time agreeing) by Valasquez and Goya and Bosch. It was lovely, though it became a bit redundant because most of the paintings were of people. I don't know these people. So seeing paintings of them meant very little to me. However, there was this sculpture that was absolutely amazing. I risked arrest, since cameras were off limits, to bring you the picture. Amazing right! In person, you can hardly tell that the veil over the lady is made from stone. I swear you could walk up and pull it right off like it was cloth. It was my favorite piece in the museum.

We roamed the museum for a good 2-3 hours until I had absorbed all the 'culture' I could. We then proceeded to get on a Tour of Madrid bus. You know I love them. This one wasn't as good as the others because we had to listen to a recorded voice instead of someone giving us all the details and inside information. This was a bit bland and mundane but it gave us a broader view of the city.

When that was done we got ready for the Real Madrid game. We navigated the subway with relative ease (mostly following the crowds). We arrived to the Santiago Bernabeu ready for action and boy did we get it. In the end we had 5 goals. 3 for Madrid and 2 for Osasuna. The 2^nd and final game winning goal from Cristiano Ronaldo came in the 88^th minute. Awesome.

The crowds here were different than the English crowds. Less cheering and WHOLE LOT more smoking. Here in Spain apparently they haven't made smoking illegal...anywhere. We have been to several restaurants with people smoking in them. Its annoying.

After the match we walked to a different subway station because the stadium station was packed. We had a good little walk and made it safely back to our stop. Then nearing 11pm we found a place to eat. Pans was the name and it's basically a Spanish version of Subway.

This morning we packed and headed to check out the Royal Palace. On the way we stopped at the Museo del Jamon, yes, the museum of ham. It's actually not a museum but a walk in eatery featuring...hog. I made up a song and couldn't get it out of my head. I think I embarrassed my dad when I started singing “The Museo del Jamon.” hahaha it was funny...to me.

As I said, the palace was closed but I snapped a few pictures while I was in the neighborhood.

There are something like 2400 rooms in this place. You don't realize how big it is until you start walking by it and 10 minutes later you're still walking next to it. Look at the picture below and see if you can find the men in it. That should put it into a better scale. Unfortunately, for the 2^nd time the palace was closed, this time because of a private party or ceremony or something.

This threw our plans off because now we had 5 hours to kill with pretty much nothing to do. The cinema was closed, we shopped a little, walked a little, and did our best to waste some time. This is a shot of a street leading to the Plaza Mayor. Thought it was cool. We finally stopped and ate out in the Plaza de Santa Ana. At the plaza they have these little Asian people that come up and try to get you to sit down for a massage. “Massage?” They go to the point of touching you and rubbing your shoulders. “Massage?” Some lady followed my dad for a good 20 steps rubbing his shoulders before she decided it was a lost cause. This time I saw them coming and started massaging his shoulders before the could get to us. They got the picture and I laughed about it.

We sat down at an eatery in the Plaza Santa Ana and ordered some tapas. In between one of the courses some random lady comes by and pokes our uneaten Spanish omelet and asks if she could have it...as if we were gonna eat it after she touched it! So we gave her a bit of our food and she put it in a plastic bag and just walked off.

We ordered some pallea, I think that's spelled correctly, its pronounced pie-ay-yah. The waiter said it would take 30 minutes and it took about an hour. It was REALLY good but we had to eat and run at that point. We got to the hotel and nearly missed our ride to the airport on some timing mix up. Luckily we got there 3 hours early thanks to the travel agent's desire to cover her butt. 3 hours in the airport...ugh. Miraculously, my mind was working and put it together that Spanair and United are part of the Star Alliance...BAM! VIP Spanair Lounge. I took a siesta.

Now we are in Barcelona. Its raining and is supposed to do the same tomorrow. Here are some random pictures. This chick had on hammer pants...not the first pair I had seen...it was the 2^nd pair. This was a street vendor getting arrested last night at the Plaza Mayor. He put up a good fight.

This was a fat Spiderman in the Plaza Mayor. Can you really make a living like this? Apparently so.