Sound and Sight

Seven Years

2008-06-30T13:23:00.002-04:00

In honor of our anniversary, here are seven things I love about my wife:

I love the way she tries to understand where I'm coming from, even when we don't always agree on something.
I love her beautiful voice (and she's hot).
I love how she pwns me at Tetris, or any other similar puzzle-style game. And sudoku.
She is an amazing mother to our boys, the most selfless person I know.
I love how she acts really excited about my interests, even when she probably doesn't care all that much.
I love that her love for chocolate is only slightly less than her love for me.
I love that she supports me when we decide to do something crazy like go back to school.

I can't believe seven years have gone by. I've now officially been married to my wife for longer than I had known her before we got married, and I've almost known her for half of my life! Pretty crazy.

I love the whole world

2008-06-27T10:00:00.001-04:00

Warm water only, please

2008-06-20T22:57:00.003-04:00

So I thought fillings were supposed to reduce pain?!?!? I've had more aches and tooth sensitivity over the last 3 days than I ever have in my life. My dentist told me to expect it, and that it will probably last a few weeks, but it's frustrating. Especially since prior to having these fillings, I had almost zero tooth discomfort to begin with. I sure hope this will be worth it in the long run.

So we just took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda. What a spectacular movie! Action-packed, heartwarming and hilarious. I highly recommend you see it. One of my favorite things about the film was the opening sequence. It was all 2D art, rather than computer animation. It was very artistic and captivating. I could've watched a whole movie like that.

Filled up

2008-06-17T13:18:00.002-04:00

I had my first fillings ever over the last two days. I have largely ignored the advice of my last couple of dentists to get about 8 small cavities/indentations filled because my family dentist who treated me for the first 25 years of my life had monitored them for a long time and never treated them simply because they never got any worse. But I finally broke down and got them filled this week because I won't have dental coverage now for a couple years, and I'm sick of every dentist telling me to get them filled.

So I did it. It's funny, I have perfectly symmetrical decay: 2 on top left, 2 on top right, 2 on bottom left, 2 on bottom right. They were all smaller than 1mm apparently, so they were really easy and quick to fill, so that was good. Yesterday I got the ones in my top jaw done. It wasn't so bad.

But today...I got the lower jaw done, and I CAN'T FEEL MY FACE. I think I've bit my tongue at least 5 times, and I feel like I'm going to swallow it. And I sound like the elephant man when I speak. It's pretty entertaining for me, personally, since I've never had this before. My wife keeps laughing at me, and my kids are clearly concerned and curious about why I'm talking funny.

I was a little sore yesterday after the top jaw was treated, but I have a feeling this is going to be worse today once the numbness wears off. Time will tell.

I don't think anybody likes going to the dentist. I could've continued ignoring these minor imperfections as I always have for the next couple years, but it feels good to just have it all done. Even though they haven't really bothered me, I imagine one day some of them probably would become more serious and noticeable. Apparently I have really nice teeth and gums otherwise, and a great shade. Maybe the dentist was just being nice, but it was nice to hear.

One thing that has always bothered me about my teeth is that I have a minor under bite, which wouldn't be a big deal, except I have one lower tooth that is seated properly, just behind my front teeth. On my last visit, I asked the dentist about what it would take to get that one tooth to line up with the rest of my lower teeth. He proceeded to explain that I would have to have my lower jaw broken, shave some of the bone off the back of my jaw to correct the under bite, and then I would have to have a spacer put in the roof of my mouth that would essentially stretch my upper jaw out so that it would seat correctly with my lower jaw in the new position. And I'd have to be wired shut for a while so that I could heal. And then he told me I would be crazy to do any of that, and that my bite is just fine. So yeah, I'll leave it how it is.

Take Two

2008-06-08T20:44:00.004-04:00

Meet Shadow.

Our neighbors had puppies, and they were giving them away. They thought of us and our boys, naturally. While I had to work pretty hard a few years ago to get our first dog, Dakota, it was all Kristy this time.

I could go over the list of reasons why we're in a much better situation now to have a dog, but I don't want to bore you. I think the main reason why Shadow will be a much better dog for our family is her mix. She is a Labrador/English Springer Spaniel, two of the best breeds for kids. Dakota was more aggressive, and we can already tell that this dog has a completely different disposition.

So yeah, we're trying to sell our house...and that was our one hesitation, but we already have a volunteer to help us watch her in case we end up in some dinky apartment where we can't handle her. But I'm not too worried about that at this point. It's looking like we'll be in this house for a while longer (stupid housing crisis!).

Help the Police

2008-06-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

I know it's a cop out to just keep posting videos, but this is hilarious and you should all watch it.

Rummaging

2008-05-31T09:04:00.002-04:00

We're having a garage sale this weekend. Who knew people wanted our junk so much! While this is not very much fun, at least we're seriously raking it in. I should clarify: I don't think garage sales are fun, but my wife is thoroughly enjoying it. She used to work in retail and she loved it, but for the last 5 years she's been an at-home mom. Our garage sale is taking her back, and she is having a blast doing this. I could totally see her wanting to open up a little boutique or something one day.

So we're finally going to go see Iron Man tonight. We're in this habit of seeing movies a few weeks after they open, because our local theater has a "Five Buck Club." After a movie has been out for 2-3 weeks, it goes on the "five buck" list. So the ten bucks we save goes to popcorn and drinks. I'm pretty sure we'll go ASAP for at least two movies this summer: The Dark Knight and Wall-E those two are at the top of my list.

Boiler Up

2008-05-23T15:27:00.004-04:00

I've told many of you this already, but it's time to make the official announcement. I'll be leaving my current employment at the end of July. I'm going back to school.

It all started about a year ago. I was casually toying with the idea of getting an MBA, and a friend of mine was very encouraging. I started studying for the GMAT, and I took the test in August. My test scores were about what I expected: I aced the qualitative stuff, but did below average on the quantitative stuff. With less-than-stellar results on my GMAT, I figured that I'd need to take it over before applying anywhere. But hey, I figured it was worth a shot, so I sent in my application to Purdue. Turns out, not only did I get accepted, but I was also eventually offered an assistantship that would help pay for well over the majority of my tuition.

So in order to handle the full-time MBA and the assistantship at the same time, I have to leave my current job. My current job has been great; the people I've worked with have been wonderful. While I often complain about certain things within this company, I'd say it's probably the best place I've worked. This has been a tough decision. We're in a situation right now that doesn't have a lot of forward momentum, but I have a decent job, and we live in a nice home in an acceptable community. Pretty soon we'll be making a lot of sacrifices, but hopefully it will all pay off in the long run.

I'll be working through the end of July, but then I'll transition from the workforce back to school. I'm nervous, excited, scared, overwhelmed, all at the same time. The only real obstacle that remains for us is our home. We've had our house up for sale since the beginning of March. For the market we're in, we've had a lot of showings--at least one per week--but no offers yet. Granted, the house hasn't even been up for sale for 3 months yet, so hopefully it will sell soon. Come the beginning of August, our income will practically evaporate, so I'm not looking forward to our situation if it doesn't sell by then. But even if that's the case, I think we have enough resources to make it through.

So that's why I've been a little quiet lately. We've been busy with this whole situation. About a month ago, I went to Purdue for their MBA weekend, and was totally pampered. That weekend really helped me feel like this was the best thing to do. It's going to be a big sacrifice, more for my wife and kids, than even for me. But my wife understands, and she's being totally supportive.

So in conclusion, buy my house and go Boilermakers.

Spillage Trifecta

2008-05-22T10:45:00.002-04:00

You know how sometimes things happen in threes? Just the other night, we got back from the grocery store. I was unloading a case of pop, and the bottom fell out of it. The cans all spilled out on my garage floor, and 2 of them busted open, spraying everywhere. A little later, I knocked over my wife's huge glass of water, soaking our living room carpet. And finally, I had placed a recently purchased Diet IBC Root Beer bottle in the freezer for about 30 minutes, hoping to chill it quickly. I sat down right after cleaning the water spill and opened the root beer. Thirty minutes is way to long to chill and IBC root beer in the freezer. It exploded like a mixture of Diet Coke and Mentos, literally shooting out all over the couch, all over myself, and all over the wall about 5 feet away from where I was sitting. This all happened within about an hour. Heh.

Alternate Ending

2008-05-13T21:33:00.003-04:00

Things are crazy around here lately. Hopefully soon I'll post about everything we've got going on.

In the meantime, watch the alternate ending for I Am Legend. I saw the theatrical release in the winter. It was mostly fun, but I hated the ending. However, the DVD has a much better alternate ending that is worth the 4 minutes. From what I understand, this ending is more true to the original story, and it gives an entirely different meaning to the title of the film. You can watch it here:

Request

2008-04-30T21:21:00.001-04:00

Dear friends,

You guys need to blog more. Seriously, come on. If I'm posting more often than you, that's pretty pathetic. So stop reading and go post.

Sincerely,

Zimm

We interrupt this blog

2008-04-18T23:47:00.004-04:00

Notice: Stop what you're doing and immediately find a way to procure The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit. Personally, it's the most important album I've found in a years. I posted a video of "Head Rolls Off" recently, and while that song and video are amazing, the rest of the album is even better than that. Even if you completely disagree with my excellent musical tastes (TLAM), take a moment to listen. Consider my favorite song, "Old Old Fashioned":

Turn off the TV, it's killing us, we never speak
There's a radio in the corner, it's dying to make a scene
So give me soft, soft static with a human voice underneath
We can both get old fashioned, cut the brakes on these fast, fast wheels

Let's get old fashioned, back to how things used to be
If I get old, old fashioned, would you get old, old fashioned with me?

Put the wall clock in the top drawer, turn off the lights so we can see
We will waltz across the carpet, one two three, two two three
So give me the soft, soft static of the open fire and the shuffle of our feet
We can both get old fashioned, do it like they did in forty-three

Let's get old fashioned, back to how things used to be
If I get old, old fashioned, would you get old, old fashioned with me?

Hear it somehow. Listen to snips on iTunes. Go to YouTube. Actually, forget it. It's in my box.net widget. Click the fileshare link in the menu above, or just look for the widget in the sidebar. Tell me what you think in the comments. Their debut album, Sings the Greys, is also wonderful, but this album is perfect. Five stars.

Road Trip!

2008-04-15T17:15:00.001-04:00

This is weeks late now, but I wanted to post about our great trip down to Georgia to visit Shoeless Joel and his wife. You’ll have to reference back to this slideshow as you read the post:

(I was originally posting the pictures as I told the story, but the post was becoming ridiculously long. I think you can follow along, though). If the slideshow is giving you trouble, go to Flickr to view.

After a morning’s worth of hectic, last-minute packing and an evening’s drive down to Nashville, we crashed at our hotel and got some rest for a big day of exploration. We began at the mall, because I forgot to pack a belt (d’oh!). The mall was huge, a la Great Lakes Crossing…there was an awesome stingray pool in the mall, but don't ask me how I forgot to take pictures of that. Oh, wait...I remember: Jaden leaned too hard on an emergency security gate, and set of an alarm. We scurried out of there, embarrassed. The stingray pool was associated with an aquarium-themed restaurant in the mall that we had neither the time nor money for, but they had a big shark statue that the kids loved, so we took a quick snapshot. After spending way too much time at the mall, Jaden stopped for a quick round of DDR while we took a bathroom break.

Then we headed over to the Grand Olde Opry and it's respective museum. This mostly bored the kids, but I was able to drool over some great vintage dobros, Martins, and Gibsons. Worth it.

We later went to Centennial Park, which has a huge "duck" pond, a highlight for the kids. The park is home to a full-size replica of the Parthenon. Apparently the Parthenon was built in 1897 in celebration of Tennessee’s centennial. I’m still not sure I get the connection, but it’s worth checking out if you’re ever in Nashville. It was a lot of fun for Mom and Dad, but not nearly as much fun as the geese and pigeons were for the boys. We toured the museum, but Zane wasn't very fond of Athena. She is kind of intimidating.

After the Parthenon we headed downtown for dinner, and we wandered around, mostly on Boulevard Street. I couldn't believe how many bands were playing. There were spots on the sidewalk where you could stand and hear two different live bands playing in bars next to each other. I would have loved to spend more time here, but alas, the little ones were sleepy.

After a long day in Nashville, we hauled down to somewhere just outside of Atlanta. We got to our hotel at about 2 a.m. I figured I’d be able to check in and practically sleepwalk to our room, but no—there were two basketball teams that arrived minutes before me, so I had to wait nearly a half an hour before it was my turn to check in. We finally got to our room, but there was only one bed. We needed two, because my sister-in-law Tracy came with us, and we didn’t want to make her sleep in the bathtub. So I got a new room, we all migrated and crashed. We were about ready to go to sleep and we realized a bag was missing. I went back to the lobby to get a key to our first room, searched it, gave up and went upstairs to our new room. Tracy couldn’t stop worrying about the bag, so she ran back to the car where she found it. In the end, it was probably close to 3 a.m. before we were all tucked in.

We woke up later than planned, but finally trucked our way to Brunswick. We beat Amelia home, so Joel showed us around his new house. The bathroom redesign is even nicer than the pictures he posted. We waited a bit for Amelia to get home, and they took us to the beach. Joel also showed us his school, which looks more like a southern villa than an actual school. The crazy janitor had just waxed the floors and he wouldn't let us in, so we had to take Joel’s word for it that his classroom has bean bag chairs instead of desks, each kid gets a laptop and an xbox, and he has the ability to dim the lights and do laser light shows to classic rock songs by the likes of Pink Floyd and Steve Miller Band. Sounds fishy to me…

The next day we went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which was a blast, especially for the kids.

The highlight of the visit was meeting my turtlegänger, Dylan. Dylan was a “straggler hatchling” rescued from a nest that emerged August 26, 1998 on Jekyll Island. Dylan is also a girl. We also enjoyed the adorable baby turtles. Joel had fun educating my kids (Jaden lost interest apparently), but I was a little worried that Amelia already had her fill of my kids, because I’m pretty sure I caught her in the act of trying to feed Zane to the Loggerheads.

Also, since waterboarding a turtle is a very ineffective way to extract information, the "rehabilitation team" at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center resorts to another form of torture: freezing lunch in a giant block of ice. I’m telling PETA. The last creature we saw wasn't a turtle (hint: it was a raccoon). Apparently even the wildlife is backwards in the south. Someone should tell this guy that he's nocturnal.

Later we had lunch and then headed to a great driftwood beach. I took off and ditched everyone behind (that's the photographer in me). Everyone eventually caught up, though. The kids were enjoying the beach so much that they eventually started disrobing. I think I'll save those pictures for the home slideshow though. On our walk back, Amelia noticed an awesome halo around the sun, and I was surprisingly able to get some decent pictures of it.

The next day the guys hung out at home while the girls went shopping for "a little bit." We mostly played with Finn. Did I mention Finn? Finn is awesome. After “a little bit”, we were just about ready to start our 14-hour drive home, but first we all headed up to Savannah for the afternoon.

We probably should have planned our afternoon in Savannah a little better, because the weather got a little chilly and windy, and we mostly wandered around trying to figure out where to eat. We eventually ended up in one of Savannah’s finest dining establishments, though, so it was a successful trip. Savannah seems like an awesome place. In fact, Tracy is seriously talking about moving down there on her own. We’ll see if she actually does it! I’d be surprised, but the town is appealing. The river walk area is a lot of fun, and it seems like a great city.

We survived the drive home, amazingly. We left Savannah around 10:30 pm, and we got home the next day around 1 p.m. We drove straight through the night. Zane was the only one who got a little fussy. Our kids were troopers.

Shoeless Joel and his family were awesome hosts, so if you have the chance, visit them. They took us to a couple of great local restaurants while we were there, and we also had some Guitar Hero battles (I wish I had pics), and board games. A good time was had by all. It's been a few weeks and our kids are still talking about Joel, Amelia and Finn. Well, mostly Finn.

Also, I have plenty more artistic pictures, so hopefully I’ll get around to posting them later.

Get your jam on (and I don't mean Pearl)

2008-04-02T16:16:00.004-04:00

Have you heard the new Raconteurs album? If you haven't, you should. Go now! It's spectacular.

I'm having this strange sensation I've never felt before. The White Stripes/Raconteurs, or Jack White basically, is coming very close to the #1 spot in my favorite bands list. Pearl Jam better do something and do it quick.

Also spectacular:

Black Mountain - In the Future (This is so 2007. I'm late to the game, sorry kids).
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (if you know me, it will make NO sense whatsoever that this album is in my current rotation).
Liam Finn - I'll Be Lightning (this guy sounds nothing like his dad, but I mean that in a good way).
Black Keys - Attack and Release (I'm seeing them in a couple weeks. Woot!)

Coming soon: Tales from the South

My declaration: procrastination and vacation

2008-03-24T23:30:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow we're off to Nashville for a day, then down to Georgia to see Joel and Amelia. Woot! Right now I'm totally excited, completely ignoring the fact that I have a lot of work to do before we leave, including getting ready for an open house and packing for the trip.

My awesome sister-in-law, Tracy:

...volunteered to come with us and help out with the boys. She's going to watch them a bit so we can actually hang with our friends in an adult fashion, so that's cool. Plus, it will make the drive better to have someone else entertaining the kids.

Woot. Hopefully, pictures will follow.

IT Session of the Day

2008-03-17T22:15:00.001-04:00

Is your computer screen smudged and dirty? Here's a great way to clean it, quick and easy. Clickity click.

I wish I were a luddite

2008-03-12T22:22:00.002-04:00

Disclaimer: I have almost 300 positive feedback on eBay, and I'm a loyal user. I love the service, and I've never had any problems. That being said, the last few weeks have been an eBay nightmare.

Early last fall, our AC Unit died. We had some kind of electrical surge, and our compressor burned out. I had a technician come take a look, and the quote to get it repaired was, of course, outrageous. I figured I could do better by shopping around, and maybe even by replacing the whole unit. A big part of the cost is the fact that our unit is old enough that we don't meet current energy saving standards. So finding a matching unit was pretty hard to do. The technician suggested we just replace our whole AC system, which meant lots of coinage. I got really lucky and found a matching compressor on eBay, for a savings of about $600. The unit shipped about 2 weeks ago. Granted, it's a big delicate AC unit, but the seller was really great about finding the best way to ship to me. Turns out it was on it's way to me via DHL on a shipping pallet, and it had a "leak". DHL sent the unit back to the shipper, and now he's sorting out the claim, which will take something like 30 days. Ugh. Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a tightwad.

Then, Kristy and I have been wanting to upgrade our phones for a long time. We can't upgrade by extending our contract for like another 6 months, and we don't really want to do that anyway. I've been shopping around online, but again, the eBay prices were hard to resist. I ordered 2 phones from this guy who has a sales record of like 10,000 units with 99% positive feedback. I figured I'd be safe. But what do I get? Nothing but trouble since I bought the phones.

First, I thought the guy would combine shipping. Nope! So about $35 for shipping 2 phones. Not a huge deal, but still annoying. If you use eBay, you know people overprice shipping all the time, so you just have to account for it. I was still saving a lot of money. So then, our phones shipped right away, back on March 4. Kristy's arrived in 2 days. Today is March 12, and mine is still MIA. But back to Kristy's phone. The battery was DOA, and it took something like 2 full days to get fully charged. Also, it was clear the phone was not brand new as advertised, and it had an aftermarket charger instead of an OEM charger. Anyway, the phone seemed to be working fine after that, despite some really minor cosmetic scuffs, and the battery/charger issues. I was in contact with the seller, and he was totally willing to exchange/return, so that made me feel better. We had just about decided to keep the phone, and what happens next? I DROPPED IT. The face of the phone shattered. I was so frustrated. Luckily, I contacted the seller and he was totally cool about doing an exchange. And my phone? I contacted the guy yesterday and explained the shipping delay. He must have worked some magic, because this afternoon, the tracking number indicates the phone is in Indianapolis now. Hopefully my phone will work when it gets here, and hopefully he'll send a replacement for Kristy's soon.

On top of all this mess, We have a bad tear in our couch, thanks to some rowdy boys. Getting the extended warranty on our furniture was one of the smartest moves we've made. It's taking forever to get it repaired, but hopefully it will happen soon. Between all of this mess, and the computer issues I had recently, I'm kind of sick of things breaking.

Second Chance

2008-03-01T14:33:00.001-05:00

Liam Finn was awesome on Letterman last night.

I'll make tiny changes to earth

2008-02-29T10:36:00.006-05:00

Would you like to have an awesome weekend? I bet you would. Well here is a way to get started. Watch this video, a song called "Heads Roll Off" by Frightened Rabbit, a great indie band from Glasgow. Their new album comes out in mid-April. This song and video put me in a great mood.

Where'd February go?

2008-02-27T13:18:00.005-05:00

I can't believe February is almost over. Does anyone else feel like this month flew by? We're all finally feeling quite a bit better around here. My wife and kids and I were all sick back and forth for the whole month, I'd say. Yuck. I think we'll be better about flu shots next season.

Keegan is doing pretty well. He's still got a little bit of a reflux problem. He just has to grow out of it, so hopefully that won't take too much longer. Jaden and Zane are doing well, too. Jaden is loving preschool, and he kinda blew us away by counting to 60 the other day (with a little help). They get big fast, it's crazy. Funny story: We sat down with Jaden last night to say his bedtime prayer. He said, "I don't want to say it, because Jesus is far, far away and lives on another planet and he can't hear me." LOL. Zane is getting really inquisitive. He's at that stage where he's constantly saying things like "Dad, what dat?" I'll answer, and he almost always answers with, "Oh. Aw-wight." Cute kid. I need to put up some pictures of them all one of these days.

And the obligatory health update: Slow and steady! I've lost 14 lbs. so far. I just need to keep it up. I think my energy level would be improving a lot more if it weren't for a)Being sick half the month and b)Being too cold to get much exercise. Excuses, excuses. I'm just hoping to keep it up.

And last but not least, since we have a lot going on this summer, we decided to take a trip toward the end of March. We're going to go to Nashville for a day, and then head down to Georgia to visit Shoeless Joel and his wife and dog. It's going to be a relatively quick trip with lots of driving--3 kids on an airplane? No thanks--but it should be fun. They seem excited for us to come, or at least they're pretending to be.

Quick update

2008-02-14T16:21:00.003-05:00

I've been quiet lately. Mostly because we've been sick, and also because I've spent nearly every free moment of the last week painting. Now I'm just sick of painting.

In other news, I'm supposed to go camping at Indiana National Lakeshore with the young men on Friday. Why are we camping near a Lake Michigan beach in the middle of February? I have no idea. Here's to hoping it either gets really warm, or gets really cold and someone wises up and cancels the camping trip before I lead a bunch of hyper teenage boys to their frigid deaths. We may have to resort to cannibalism to survive. Time will tell.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. I hope your evening is spent exactly the way you'd like.

Remember this?

2008-01-31T23:49:00.000-05:00

Yay: I got my laptop back from HP. Turns out I was still within my warranty by like 3 days, so they replaced my system board for me, free of charge. I think I might splurge on that extended warranty now, just in case I have to rescue Jaden from another nightmare.

Nay: They also reformatted my hard drive. Curses. I have all my data backed up, but it's going to take me hours to get XP tweaked back to the way I like it, and get my programs installed.

President Hinckley

2008-01-28T00:54:00.000-05:00

President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away today. In my lifetime, other than my own father, there hasn't been a man I look up to more than him. As the president of the LDS church for my young adult life, I have had countless opportunities to hear and read his words, and on a couple of occasions, be in his presence. Those moments will always be dear to me, as he has been an important influence in my life. I was always impressed by his work in bringing public attention to the church. I will never forget the momentous occasion when he was interviewed by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes in 1996. It was as though that interview ushered in an era of curiosity and goodwill toward people of the LDS faith. I think the church, and public perception of Mormons, changed more under his watch than under anyone else's in the last century. I hope that tradition will continue, and that my faith will continue to have that forward momentum. But most importantly, I hope that President Hinckley's tradition of service and outreach will continue to be of the highest priority for years to come. His words have been important to me, but his actions--and the actions of others whom he directly inspired--have always left a stronger impression. He was a true ambassador.

I'm it

2008-01-23T00:10:00.000-05:00

The Docta tagged me, so here we go...

A. The Rules are posted at the beginning
B. Each player answers about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people, posts their names, and goes to their blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
Disclaimer: Doc did most of the work for me on this one. Four of the 5 things I have listed are verbatim from his site. I never took a dance class, so #5 is my addition to the list, which would also fit just fine on The Docta's list, I do believe.

Starting my second semester of my freshman year at BYU, after having the most fun I'd ever had up to that point, and getting the worst grades I'd ever gotten in school.
Playing in the two-man band Autumn Eclipse with The Docta (maybe we'll get the band back together for a couple of recordings at some point...)
Going out when I should have been studying...taking Shoeless Joel's car, where it fit the whole crew only when Johnny rode in the back.
Having water fights in the dorm that were intense enough to get the floors above and below us wet.
Lack of funding and transportation prevented me from skiing. However, being resourceful, My freshmen crew and I mastered a more reckless endeavor. We would layer up and wear the slickest clothing we had on the outer layer (windbreakers and jogging pants and the like), duct tape our pant legs to our boots, hike up some clearing in Rock Canyon for a couple hours, stop at the top, eat a sandwich, then hurl ourselves down the mountainside with reckless abandon. As much fun, and sometimes painful, as the trip down could be, one of the most memorable aspects of doing this was the intense quiet that we would experience at the top of the climb. We were high enough to escape the sounds of the urban valley, and the snow was deep enough to silence the rustle of wind between the evergreens. At times, we were literally walking in the treetops, the snow was so deep. We were lucky to never cause an a serious snow slide or avalanche. But again, the silence. We would reach our destination, and after stopping and catching my breath, the only thing I could hear was my throbbing pulse, and as that faded, then...nothing. And I really mean the absence of sound. A very surreal, reverent experience.

5 Things On My To-Do List Today (for tomorrow)

Exercise
Drive from Fort Wayne to Muncie
Stop at DeBrand before leaving Fort Wayne to pick up early birthday present for wife
Take care of a bunch of boring business-related items
Ignore probably a dozen phone calls from media vendors (this is the most annoying aspect of my job; I let almost every call go to voice mail, unless you're programmed into my phone)

5 Snacks I Enjoy

Nearly anything with chocolate + peanut butter
Chips and guacamole or fresh salsa
Fresh berries; but not blueberries...also red grapes, but not green
Trail mix and/or beef jerky (camping, driving, etc)
Popcorn (in particular, the half-popped kernels at the bottom of the bowl)

5 Things I'd Do if I Were a Billionaire

Buy a new house with a music room and photography room
Make sure my family and closest friends are taken care of
Research some charities/causes, contribute to them and become involved in them
Buy myself something obscenely unnecessary, like a huge sailboat
Travel (in my sailboat?) to many places. Australia, Alaska and many parts of South America to start with

3 Bad Habits

I am selfish
I am impatient and short-tempered
I am always right

5 Jobs I've Had

Golf caddy
Landscape grunt
Counselor in a home for troubled girls
Public relations account executive
Regional marketing representative

5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me
(apparently I talk about myself a lot, so we'll see if I can come up with 5 things...)

Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist. I got my SCUBA license when I was 12
I've never had a broken bone or cavity (I think my next dentist visit may change this fun fact)
I often brush my teeth in the shower
When I was working as a Landscaping grunt, I was driving a bobcat in the rain, and managed to puncture the very large tire of a flatbed trailer with a forklift attachment. No one else was at work at the time, and I mentally fabricated this elaborate story to tell my boss, but ended up just telling the truth
I went to court for allegedly stealing a sandwich from the BYU Campus Bookstore. I pled "no contest" and opted to pay a $300 fine instead of doing something like 50 hours of community service, just to get the ridiculous event behind me. (I'm still bitter about this. Can you tell?)

And there you have it. Now, I'm supposed to tag 5 more people, but since I talk about myself a lot, I don't really care about hearing from 5 of you. Actually, I think most of you reading this have been tagged already. So I'm going to tag Stone Gossard, Thom Yorke, Barack Obama, Edward Norton and Tina Fey.

Self Improvement

2008-01-22T18:09:00.000-05:00

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The good news is I am still making positive progress, though limited. As of Monday, I've lost another pound. After a few days of corporate dinner gluttony, I'll take it. I'm glad I didn't digress. This week is already shaping up to be better. I'm eating better, and I've added the exercise element to my regimen. I've exercised 2 days this week (and it's only Tuesday, woot). My goal is 4 days per week. If I made my goal loftier, I'm afraid I wouldn't keep it. Work and 3 kids under 5 keeps me busy.