Last year we forgot our wedding anniversary entirely. It was only after a call from my mom on the next day that we realized our mistake.
This year, around 12:00 noon Circle remembered and reminded me. 7 years together, HOORAY! We agreed that, coming off of winter sicknesses and a recent visit from Mom, Allan, Ben, and Annette that we'd rather vegetate and catch up on season 5 of Lost rather than leaving the house.
In other news, the secret fireplace mantel project went over really well. Read up about it on Circle's Blog. I finished painting the armoir Circle picked up on craigslist (that she started painting a few weeks ago) and put all my goodies in it (tv, bluray player, surround sound system etc).
Additionally, we found a picture of Jesus we really liked on the BYU museum of art's website, ordered it, had it framed, and put it up above the mantel. It's a really interesting painting from the "Circle of Rembrandt" and isn't overly "Mc Mormon" which makes us both happy.
I also jury-rigged 2 curtain rods together into one looong one so Circle could hang the curtains she found at Ikea. She wanted one giant rod across the east wall of our living room...unfortunately no one makes a 15 ft curtain rod.
We pulled out the "Italy" shaped stockings Circle made a few Christmases ago and I was reminded again of how unique and cool they are. Hanging them from the new mantel was a really rewarding experience.
Having visitors for Christmas really spurred us on to finish up "My room" as it's come to be called. I like the room because it fulfills all my "Man Cave" needs and Circle likes it because it's stylish and classic at the same time. Oh, we also got a fake tree that is pretty indistinguishable from the real thing. Our desire for perfect tree symmetry and disdain for cold winter tree-hunting lead us to the decision :)
I took a trip to L.A. this weekend to support some friends in the Indicade competition.
Indiecade is a competition for independent video game makers, ie: people who make artsy video-games on their own budget without corporate backing.
The weather was a perfect 70 degrees the whole time, quite a contrast to the 40 degree weather we've been having here with frost starting to bite our grass and garden.
Hollywood was pretty crazy. Everyone, even the homeless, dress like moviestars. I saw a billboard for medical marijuana and another for a pornographic website.
My friends won the award for "Best Gameplay Innovation" in the contest. That made the trip a success.
The best part though, was the night we decided to go see a double feature of 2 John Hughes films at Graumann's Chinese Theater. Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Weird Science were playing. It was so much fun to watch those old classics on the big screen!
Much to our surprise, after FBDO, the theater manager walked up in front of the screen and introduced 3 actors from the movie. Cameron, the principal, and the secretary (with all the pencils in her hair). They sat and talked about John Hughes, who passed away this year, fun stuff from the set of FBDO, their feelings on the success of the movie, and answered audience questions. What a surprise that was since we just expected to see a classic double feature! That really made the trip feel like "Hollywood."
Check out my collection of pictures from the trip here:
I just got back from the Tour De Tahoe! What a ride!
Be careful not to call it a race, the event organizers were sure to make that clear. "Riders" started at any time between 6:30 and 8:00 a.m. from the Horizon Hotel/Casino on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, then rode completely around the huge lake (72 miles) and ended up back at the start line.
The course hugged the Lake Tahoe shoreline tightly so it was a truly beautiful and inspiring morning.
I rode with my good friend Aaron Shamy who has been my long-distance (he in Utah and me in Nevada) fitness buddy for the last year.
We started at 6:30 and finished 4.5 hours later. We were quite impressed with our time considering the HUGE mountains we had to traverse. As we crossed the finish line with one other rider, they called out our places 18, 19, 20. Did I mention there were over 2,000 registered riders?!
Other interesting tidbits:
- The ride was at a pretty high elevation, between 6000 and 7000 feet throughout.
- There was over 5000 feet of climbing
- I burned around 5000 calories in 4.5 hours
- Drafting is the only way to go (we got in 3 or 4 good peletons and they made a HUGE difference)
Here is a really neat page that breaks down the stats from our ride, you can actually watch an animated breakdown of the stats as the ride progressed. Shamy's Garmin is a pretty neat little gadget: CLICK HERE
Today's my 29th Birthday! Did you know that McDonalds just celebrated the 30th year anniversary of its Happy Meal? That means there has never been a day of my life when I couldn't go to Mickey D's and get a Happy Meal...food for thought.
I have to admit that blogger has a lot of VERY nice features that will, hopefully, make it less of a chore to blog. All of my older posts were easy to transfer in and I've included the original dates in text at the top of each post. I've also gone through and fixed a lot of links that have been messed up over the years since I started blogging (4 years ago!). So now, you should see more pictures and interactive stuff that was missing before.
More good news! If you didn't notice, my profile on the right has a new "location" listed. That's right, this Saturday we're making the move to Fernley Nevada!
It's a long story, but we found a JEM of a house at a foreclosure auction and have finally signed all the closing papers!
I'll make a more detailed post about it later, but for now I've got to get PACKING!
In memoriam of Provo, here's our tour on Memorial Day:
The Provo Tabernacle. See if you notice anybody special hidden in the parts of the panorama:
The guitar shop we visited on a date. The guy has a full shop where he manufactures his own guitars.
Center Street in Provo. Many a stroll and date were had along this strip.
Provo River trail. Runs from Utah Lake to Bridal Veil falls. Lots of exercise and walks had along the banks of the Provo River.
Utah Lake. Not really a swimming or boating destination for us, but often a destination at the end of exercise or walks.
The local hair school! Sure, haircuts may take up to 3 hours at the hands of the inexperienced students who aren't allowed to use clippers, but maybe they'll tell you you look like George Clooney or cut your ear with ultra-sharp scissors to make up for it!
Makeout...*ahem*...lookout point. Also the trailhead for the hike up to the "Y."
Us posing in front of the "Y" trailhead.
Circle has fond fond memories of her time managing Alpine Apartments in Provo (our second house as a married couple)
BYU campus, many hours were spent here by both of us...Circle earning her degree and me working towards becoming a college dropout.
This panorama is a little wonky, but I wanted to get the full effect of looking up at the Provo temple and then down over the temple grounds.
Here's our family picture in front of the Provo Temple.
Circle and I met in this building at the MTC as Italian teachers...what fond memories!
The Boston-style pizzeria with great pizza where Ethan, Circle's brother, took on the challenge of eating a large deep dish pizza in under an hour (see previous blog post for more details).
Stadium Terrace, the apartments where Circle and I lived before getting married. ST is located right next to the BYU stadium where Circle and I always went to watch 4th of July fireworks and broke into once to kiss on the 50 yard line.
The Riverwoods shopping center, location of TUCANOS the brazilian all-you-can-eat meat-fest. Mmmmmmm....
Bridal Veil falls, the place I proposed to Circle and that we have visited for all 6 of our anniversaries.
The hospital where Bella was born. Circle convinced Bella that she should get into her shirt to mimic her pregnant belly.
Savers thrift store, where, on one of our dates, Circle knew I was the right guy because I loved the idea of getting used clothes for cheap prices.
We drive by this sign all the time and have never had the guts to discover just exactly what "Alfajor" is.
Out first house as a married couple. A single room studio apartment, perfect for newlyweds!
A picture of the Malt Shoppe and University Avenue, more of our Provo stomping grounds with a nice sign pointing out the proximity of BYU campus.
You may be wondering what's up with all the Provo nostalgia. Hopefully we'll have a post soon explaining exactly what's going on. Stay tuned!
Circle and I were just cleaning out our house for our upcoming move and I stumbled across some funny plans for a rap song about the Brother of Jared.
I think I wrote the lyrics with Matt, but I don't really remember.
Anyway, here's a transcription and a scan of the picture I drew to go along with it: Brother of Jared Rap
Verse 1: Let's get this story started, let's open the flood gates It's comin' straight atcha from the 24 gold plates As you might know it from your sunday school teacher It's the story of Jared from that funky book of Ether
Those ancients were wicked you know it's not a fable Tryin' to reach heaven with that great big tow'r a' babel Nobody quite knows just how adamic sounded All we know for sure is that their language was confounded
Verse 2: Jared and his crew, their language wasn't messed but they were required to move into the wilderness (Yo Jared, break me off some a dat Deseret...mmm that's suh-weet)
(Uh-uh yo, this is MC Jared on the mic...) Yo, we been commanded to reach the promised land With all this water in the way there's just no way we can The waves are rollin' in and we're without a barge And in the wilderness we just ain't been livin' large
Yo Jared, have some faith, we're better off than we were We'll get across or my name ain't Mahonri Moriancumr!
I'll go up to the mountain and get some inspiration So we can cross the ocean and start a brand new nation
[transition: angelic choir]
Verse 3: I've been shown the proper way to build each and every ark the only problem is we'll be goin' in the dark
We can't have windows...We can't have fire... I'm tellin' ya bro, our ox is in the mire
I been tryin' homie, to think outside the box the best idea I've had is to use these molten rocks
If I ask with faith, I'm sure you know with the help of God these stones will glow
[transition: angelic choir]
Outtro: Let's throw these rocks in our boats without oars and then take off to the promised land's shores
(Dude, Mahonri, these ships are tiiiiight...like unto a DISH!)
(And the ever-famous chorus) The dish was too tight the dish was too tight gotta cross the ocean you know it's all right.
It's a very silly song, but still, I'm surprised at the quality. Maybe I'll polish it off and make that cartoon some day. :)
06 May 2009 10:40 pm I don't know why my comments are being spam-attacked, but here's a peek at some of the characters from WoogiWorld that I drew up in a 3 hour rush for a big conference. Click the pic to see it larger!
31 Mar 2009 05:59 pm Gah, I just made a long post about my 1st cycling century (100 miles) and got logged out before I could save it...oh well, here's a quick summary until I feel like actually re-writing the entire thing:
Dramatic race morning pic:
Cool morning, glad to have the jacket and gloves:
At the starting line with Aaron:
The route (click to enlarge):
Profile/height map (click to enlarge):
Post-race with Aaron:
Post-race triumphant:
Post-race Stats - 13.9 mph average speed, 38.7 mph top speed:
Post-race Stats - 7 hrs 7 mins 49 seconds, 99.62 miles (the course was actually 104 miles, but my computer stopped working for a while):
Highlights:
We heard about the race Wednesday, drove down Friday night, raced Saturday, and drove back Saturday night - 3.5 hours each way!
We weren't sure our cell phone alarms were working so I programmed a flash app to play my recorded voice in the morning yelling "WAKE UP!"
"The Wall" (or at least the hardest part) was the 30 mile incline after riding 50 miles already (see height map above), was spinning in my lowest gear running on only will power.
Aaron injured his knee at mile 70 and pedaled with one leg the last 30 miles
At mile 90's re-fuel stop my body started craving oranges, I couldn't stop eating them, probably ate 6 or 7 oranges in 1/4 slice chunks...was so impressive the guy working the station, when he saw me cross the finish line shouted: "Hey it's the orange guy!"
Yes, 3 weeks after our return from Italy, I'm finally ready to take on the final set of posts. I've been procrastinating because I have a giant folder of photos that I know will take a couple hours, at least, to get through and properly document. Some of these will be re-hashes of stuff I've already posted, but with more photos and junk... so heeeere we go:
We took a quick panorama (where I take a series of pics in a circle) of a park we walked through that overlooked the Colosseum (click and drag your mouse to move the picture) It was quick because the corner where I was standing smelled like the unofficial toilet for the local homeless:
On our way to Assisi we took a look out the train window next to the train platform and noticed just how popular cigarettes are in Italy:
At Assisi, we stopped to buy some Nativity sets at the local shops (since St. Francis invented the modern idea of the Nativity). This couple was really cool and chatted with us for quite a while while we were buying nativities from them. The guy is a painter and had his little easle and paints set up and talked our ear off about how much he loves art. Seeing touristy stuff is always cool, but my favorite moments of the trip always involved interacting with Italians and getting a real taste for their culture and personality:
Here's "Fontana Di Trevi" one of the coolest piazzas in Rome. It was packed so we only stayed for a few mins. It's one of those places you have to see at least once, but once you've taken it all in, there's not much point in hanging around all day:
We took an afternoon for shopping and wandered aimlessly around Rome looking for shops. This was a beautiful hill leading up to an antique bookstore where Circle bought a copy of Dante's "Divina Comedia" and Bocaccio's "Decamerone." They're not super ancient printings, but have beautiful illustrations and very antique looking covers that really make our bookshelves look classy.
Shortly after Circle's purchase I decided to splurge on some nice ties and an Italian pair of shoes bought from a pair of Israeli immigrants who have had shops in Rome for 20 years.
This is a quick panorama of the line we had to wait in to get into the Vatican Museums. We waited in line from about 9:30 am until 11:00 (click and drag the photo to move around) We chatted up a young couple from Padova behind us in line and Circle was forced to admit that the northern accent is much cleaner and more beautiful than the slurred Roman accent:
Here's the entrance to the Vatican Museums. The Papal crest quickly became a huge annoyance to me for many reasons, the biggest being that much of Rennaisance art and architecture was built right on top of ancient Roman stuff with little regard for the perversion of history and meaning they were imposing...besides a big ugly beehive hat with keys hugging it is so ugly:
The incredible thing about the Vatican Museums is the amount of history the artifacts within it span. The church has acquired many items, and many have been donated. The first rooms we went into had authentic things from the egyptian era (many centuries B.C.)
Here's a Mummy very well preserved, they say with salt and other embalming fluids...this photo does not do its grotesqueness justice...though I can't help wondering if it tastes like salted beef jerky:
Here is a marble sarcophagus:
This statue was funny. It's a representation of a goddess of fertility. Those are all breasts [insert crude commentary here]:
This colossus is made of bronze and about 18 feet high. It's from ancient Roman times and was struck by lightning and therefore considered cursed. It was found buried in an upside down position apparently to counter the curse:
This is a pic of the mosaic tile work on the floor of one of the rooms in the Vatican Museums. Some incredible detail shots follow:
Ancient Romans...early Nazis?
Who knew that Rodin's "The Thinker" was in the Vatican Museums? I think this might be one of his bronze studies, but we were so tired of listening to the crappy audio guide and standing on sore feet that we snapped a few pictures and moved on before fully investigating:
In the hallways of the Vatican Museum there were some incredible tapestries. They were over 12 feet tall and sometimes twice as wide. Really impressive when you consider they were hand-woven. Here's an example:
I should mention here that, after many hours in the Vatican Museums, we finally arrived at the main reason we went there: The Sistine Chapel!
It was truly spectacular for me because Michaelangelo is my favorite rennaisance artist. His mastery of form and the way he flaunts it with twisting bodies impresses me to no end.
We were one of the only groups that respected the Sistine Chapel rule of not taking any photographs or video. We wouldn't be able to do it any more justice than a simple google image search would do so I'm leaving it out of this post as a matter of tourist principle.
After we spent all morning and into the afternoon in the Vatican Museums we grabbed some pizza in their eateria which looked over a nice vatican garden:
St. Peters is just a short walk down the street from the Vatican Museums, so we headed there next.
Now, where in Hell is St. Peter's?
Here I am enjoying the Pope's embrace:
Here's Circle in St. Peter's square (see what I did there?):
Here's a big old obelisk in St. Peter's:
Inside St. Peter's:
Here is the famous "Pieta" by Michaelangelo. It was kind of disappointing because it's behind a bunch of glass and sectioned off so you can't even get close to it.
After visiting St. Peters we glanced back on its splendor and saw what can only be interpreted as a heavenly invitation to convert:
Next stop, the Pantheon!
Here's some famous bridge across the Tiber river that we crossed on our way from St. Peters to the Pantheon:
On our way to the Pantheon there was a cool little shop where they sell hand-made marble fruit. Yes, all that fruit is made out of Italian marble! (I found out the HARD way)
Here's the Pantheon, one of the oldest structures in Rome:
Here's what we ate outside of a little cafe next to the Pantheon (that's Mozzarella di Buffalo -- yes, BUFFALO cheese...it is one of the greatest delicacies Italy has to offer):
That's all the blogging I can handle for today. Stay tuned for Pompeii!
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