Moving on

It's about time I get back on the blog-wagon. I've been very busy lately with moving and school work. I probably should be doing school work right now, but honestly I need a bit of a break.

I moved recently from Bountiful to Salt Lake City in a move that I hope is a good thing (a little too late to change it now, though). Even though I'm very used to moving, it's starting to get real old. If I didn't hear nearly every step my upstairs neighbors make, I would probably think about staying where I am for a very long time...as it is I'll fulfill my lease and then probably seek greener pastures.

This move was an interesting one for me. I employed a new technique that I call the "commute move". I work in Farmington, which is north of Bountiful and so on my way home to SLC (south of Bountiful), I would stop in and move a little each day as I commuted home. I had about three weeks between when I was able to get into my new place and when I had to be out of my old one.

You'd think that if I did a little each day it would make things pretty easy, right? Wrong. If you thought that, you don't know me very well. True, I'd stop by the old place everyday but most of the time I'd walk in and look around and think, "yeah I can do this later." And then walk out. This led to a pretty busy couple of days at the end of the month.

While I was packing and cleaning my room, I found a variety of things. Lucky you, I'm going to tell you some of the things I found.

- Approximately $5.57 in loose change.
How do all those coins get all over the place? It's especially weird seeing as I rarely use cash (I've been through two debit cards in the last 6-8 months...they just wear out). Stranger still is that there were a lot of quarters, easily the most valuable of commonly used coins. I'm not complaining about finding this loot, I just think it's strange that there was that much of it.

- Mission letters
Not just letters I sent while on my mission, but also letters and cards I received. I initially threw them all away (I was just trying to get rid of stuff that I was tired of carrying around). But, after getting them all into the garbage bag I felt bad, so I pulled them all out and decided to keep them. I'm glad I did. I read some of them and felt uplifted by some of the things I read from my family. It was a much needed pick-me-up. I hope to put them all together in some kind of scrapbook. Maybe I can get the Relief Society to do an Enrichment activity and invite me. That would accomplish more than one purpose.

- A letter I wrote as a secret admirer
I used to have the biggest crush on a girl who lived a couple doors down from me. Apparently I used to be a Casanova in my younger days. I wrote this girl a letter, complete with a poem using phrases like "makes my heart flutter" and other equally cheesey lines. Obviously the letter never got delivered. I guess I was a chicken Casanova.

- Pictures
Lots and lots of pictures. Some of me, some of family and some of things that I have no idea what they are or why they were significant to photgraph. I kept the ones that had people in it and tossed the ones that I had no idea what they were of. I figured I didn't know what they were (or even that they existed) and why I had them, so I got rid of them.

- Dryer sheets
Seriously, where do these things come from?! I thought I was pretty good about throwing them away after doing laundry, but I guess I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I threw them away for good. Maybe next time I move I can find another 30-40 of them.

- Pinewood Derby Cars
I found every Pinewood Derby Car my dad and I made - there were three of them (we used one twice) and they were all the same design but with different paint jobs. When you've got a good thing going, you stick with it. I had some success with these cars when I was a Cub Scout. My first year, I (read: my dad) placed third in a tri-city Pinewood Derby meet. Not too bad. This was also about the same time I won the school spelling bee for my grade. Good times. I think I peaked around this time as well.

- Missing socks
You know when you do laundry and end up with incomplete pairs of socks. It happens to everyone. When you move, you'll find them. All of them. But you won't be able to do anything with them because you've already thrown the mates away. Perfect. I don't like mixing old socks with new socks. The new socks are softer and I have to have the same softness on each foot or I get moody. You don't want to see me moody.

Just a bit longer...

Thanks to all you who continue to check my blog even though I've not written anything for a while. The counter thing on this page isn't counting very fast, but it's counting which tells me there are some people checking in.

I have some stuff coming (not that it's super important) but I'm all written out right now from school. I was going to get a blurb in earlier as a release for me, but I got burned out before I could start.

Just a little bit longer. Sorry folks.

I haven't forgotten...

I haven't forgotten about my blog, honest. I've just been real busy with school and moving that I haven't found the time to put together a thoughtful blog post. There's one coming, I assure you.

Please be patient with me.

It's over...it's all over

The election is finally over. All the mudslinging and negative campaigning can finally come to an end. Thank goodness! I think voting is the responsibility of every American adult. Now that the voting is over, we all have a new responsibility.

We need to support our President. I don't know that I agree with the President-elect on every issue. I think he has some ideas that may be detrimental to our country and way of life, but guess what...there's nothing that can be done about it now. Except whine.

I expect that there will be a fair amount of blowhards (Hannity, Rush, et al) who will have their panties in a wad and won't be shy about telling people. I don't know that any of the talking heads have ever accomplished anything beneficial. It seems to me that they just serve to work people into a frenzy and don't offer any viable solutions to perceived "problems".

For the record, I didn't vote for Obama (I didn't vote for McCain either...bet you can't guess who I did vote for). I'm not necessarily a fan of some of the things he presented during his campaign. But, I've had my say about what I thought and my thoughts were overruled. That's the way it works. Now, it's up to me to decide if I want to be bitter and resentful, looking for flaws or shortcomings in our government. Or, I can decide to give it an honest try and do my best to make things work.

I think there are some things that are inherently flawed in some positions that have been advocated, but there's nothing I can do about that. I am choosing to look at the good that I hope our President-elect will bring about for our country. I look forward to change and hope it's for the better.

And if we're wrong, we'll have a chance to vote him out of office in a few years. A lot of the changes that some people are afraid of will take a good deal of time to bring about. I'm not saying that they won't come about, but all these things that people are afraid of won't be happening overnight.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the sky is not falling, the world is not ending, the sun will rise tomorrow, life is still good, and I'm still proud to be an American.

Hopefully this will be my last/only political post.

Shtuff. Part One.

I'm not quite sure what to title this entry or what I really want to say either. Maybe I shouldn't be posting anything if I don't know where I want to go with it. Or, maybe I should and we'll all just take a ride and see where we end up.

I've been thinking lately about this blog and how my entries may make it seem like I'm down in the dumps (I'm not) or maybe that's just what it seems like to me. In any case, I wanted to post about things in my life that I've enjoyed and am currently missing (this may not help out the anti-melancholy thing). I don't want to focus so much on what I miss but on things in my past that I've enjoyed.

So here, without further ado...in pictures, are things from my past that I've enjoyed.

My family and I at my graduation. That stupid tassel kept getting in the way, so I switched hats to my preferred cap. I tucked this hat into the back of my pants under my gown as I walked. I was tempted to trade it out before crossing the stage, but decided propriety was more important than my personal fashion sense. This hat is still my favorite and it hangs on my wall as a memorial to the relationship between a man and his hat.



This is the mortarboard hat that I had to modify a little so my family could pick me out of the sea of black gowns and black hats. I thought it only appropriate that it had a 'Y' on it. Go Cougs!



My first post-mission car, a 1993 Nissan Maxima GXE. I got a killer deal on it when I got home from my mission. I drove it for years until it had to be retired when I moved to Arizona. When I got there, I picked up a pick-up (more on this below).



My 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Edition. VERY fun to drive in the summer without doors or top. I loved to hop in and out and to hang a leg while on the road. Possibly one of the more fun (even if less-than-comfortable) cars I've owned.




My current car - 2000 Honda Civic XE. Not super cool, but it gets me from Point A to Point B economically and reliably. When the heck did I start caring about that crap?! I must be getting old. Dangit. I need a truck.




Dodge Charger R/T. Gets me hot and bothered without fail. Every time. In a big way. Add some lights and a push bar and I'm over the edge. This is one car that makes my already persistent yearning to be a cop almost unbearable. One of the hottest cars ever. Ever.




My dream truck. 1999 Toyota Tacoma SR5 TRD. I actually owned this very truck in the picture. Yes, that hot truck was once mine. I sold it during a pretty harsh down time in my life. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to not sell this truck. It was literally my dream truck. At least I had it for a while. Looking at the pictures of it makes me want one. In fact, after seeing the picture before I posted this blog, I went to the classifieds just to look for another Tacoma. I had no intention of buying one, but I was definitely looking. I call it Tacoma torture.




There are few things I'm passionate about in life, but BYU football is one of them. I haven't always been a Cougar fan; it all started when I started attending BYU for my undergrad degree in 2003. Since that time, I've only missed one home football game and been to several away games.





Mullet hunting isn't a recognized sport, but I'll participate sometimes. I'm not the best hunter but I've seen a few good ones. This one is from a demolition derby (possibly the best place to find them...they're everywhere) in Ogden. The best part...it's a she-mullet.



This is a recognized sport, however. It may seem uncivilized at times, but can be one of the more, dare I say, graceful sports. This is from a Colorado Avalanche vs Vancouver Canucks game from January 2006. My brother bought me two tickets to this game for Christmas, so I decided to take him with me. It was my first (and so far only) NHL game. It was a great experience.



This is from I worked at a children's shelter in Salt Lake. You can see my Jeep in the background. See how dark my head was? That's because I drove my Jeep without a top (the way it's supposed to be) all summer without sunscreen. I eventually bought a hat. The respirator was employed when I had to clean up an ungodly mess consisting of various bodily fluids produced by a kid in the shelter. Thank goodness I had my respirator (overkill? maybe) or I might have added to the problem.



I just noticed that a lot of the pictures are of cars I've had. I wonder why that is. That's interesting to me. I didn't include a couple pictures of an older car that I had in high school because the picture album is MIA right now. When I find it I'll post some more pictures from my past, for now you'll just have to wait in eager anticipation.

Walking on

This is a longer post, but I hope it will be worth your while.

People change all the time. It’s the only thing I can think of that is constant in life. It’s certainly not something that’s new in my life. My life has been a constant stream of changes. I’ve moved more times than I care to count, changed jobs more in my short post-college career than some people do in their whole life, and flip-flopped between potential future plans like a fish out of water.

I’m getting ready to make yet another change in my life. I’m moving down to Salt Lake City in a few weeks. Going to the big city, the S-L-C. I’m actually very excited about this move. It presents new opportunities for social interaction, a new environment and area to explore and just new experiences in general. That’s always exciting for me.

I seem to thrive on change, even though I don’t want to. Sometimes I feel like I have something inside me that is compelling me to move on to a new place. I heard a song by Modest Mouse that really resonates with me. Sometimes I think that if my life were ever made into a movie, this is a song that could be a theme song for the movie. I wanted to just include the lyrics that I felt were particularly applicable but after reviewing the song, I’m just going to post the whole thing and I’ll just bold the parts I feel describe me.

"Ice-age heat wave, can't complain.
If the world's at large, why should I remain?
Walked away to another plan.
Gonna find another place, maybe one I can stand.
I move on to another day,
to a whole new town with a whole new way.
Went to the porch to have a thought.
Got to the door and again, I couldn't stop.
You don't know where and you don't know when.
But you still got your words and you got your friends.
Walk along to another day.
Work a little harder, work another way.

Well uh-uh baby I ain't got no plan.
We'll float on maybe would you understand?
Gonna float on maybe would you understand?
Well float on maybe would you understand?

The days get shorter and the nights get cold.
I like the autumn but this place is getting old.
I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast.
It might not be a lot but I feel like I'm making the most.
The days get longer and the nights smell green.
I guess it's not surprising but it's spring and I should leave.

I like songs about drifters - books about the same.
They both seem to make me feel a little less insane.
Walked on off to another spot.
I still haven't gotten anywhere that I want.
Did I want love? Did I need to know?
Why does it always feel like I'm caught in an undertow?

The moths beat themselves to death against the lights.
Adding their breeze to the summer nights.
Outside, water like air was great.
I didn't know what I had that day.
Walk a little farther to another plan.
You said that you did, but you didn't understand.

I know that starting over is not what life's about.
But my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth.
My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth.
My thoughts were so loud..."



I really like that song – it speaks to me. I always feel like I’m chasing something, but I’m never quite sure what it is. That makes it hard to ever catch it. If I did catch it, would I know what it was?

What set me off on this line of thinking? My move to Salt Lake did. Greener pastures…or so I think. I always see greener grass somewhere else and I head off in the direction of the green. Is it ever really greener? I don’t know. But I don’t see any reason to not check it out…you know, just to make sure.

I have thoughts of this type of thing (greener pastures) more than I admit to most people. I don't know how many times I've been watching Cops or World's Wildest Police Videos and thought, "yeah I want to do that, in fact that's what I'm going to do when I grow up."

I've finally found a job I enjoy and have been at it for over a year now. That is a personal record for me and the surprising thing is that I don't see myself wanting to leave anytime soon. After I finish my Master's degree then I will reevaluate my position and potential. But until that time, for the first time in my life, I am content with my job. I don't foresee any changes in this area for a while and amazingly enough, I'm perfectly okay with that.

And that makes me happy.

One final thought before I wrap up this blog. For as much change as I’ve gone through, I think I’m basically the same person I’ve always been. Moving to a new place, starting a new job, selling my car and getting a new (to me) car, making new friends…all these things are extraneous changes. They’ve had little effect on me, on who I am. If I'm staying the same, I wonder why I am constantly looking for change. What is it that makes me want something different? Am I unhappy or dissatisfied with an aspect of my life? Am I unhappy with myself? I don’t think that’s the case because if it is, I’m going about it the wrong way.

True change doesn’t originate on the outside, it starts on the inside. None of these changes I’ve been describing have come from inside. If I really wanted something to be different about myself I would have to make the change on the inside and that can happen anywhere, in any job, regardless of the kind of car I drive or who I have for friends.

Years ago, Harry Chapin sang a song called W*O*L*D about a disc jockey who left his wife, drifted around for years and finally tried to return to his wife and family. In the song he describes the jockey getting older and noticing the world changing around him. The jockey makes this profound observation on life:

“Sometimes I get this crazy dream
That I just take off in my car
But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are…”

I’ve been around a bit and traveled on a good deal, but in some ways I feel as if I’ve never left.

In over my head

I feel like I'm drowning. I have so much stuff on my plate right now and I don't know exactly how to manage it. I know what's wrong too. I got into school and I wasn't ready for it. Dangit. I haven't made school a priority and have procrastinated doing my reading and studying and as a result, am behind. Great. Typical.

I feel like I have so much stuff to do and not enough time or energy to do it all. I need to get my life organized. I have a vision of myself and my life the way I want it to be...the problem is, I'm not there. I think I have an idea of what I need to do to get there though, and that's good...but now I need to get it done.

Do I have the capability to get what I want? Yes, I believe I do. If I didn't there would not be any good reason to be talking about it until I had the capability to accomplish it. Do I know what it'll take to get there? Yes, I believe I do. Do I want it bad enough to do what it takes to get it? Oooh, now there's the right question.

I've identified a problem/obstacle to accomplishing what I want. I'm lazy. Big time lazy. Is there a cure for laziness? Sure, it's called hard work. There's no other cure that I know of.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they spend their leisure time. You can tell what kind of person they are; are they ambitious, goal-oriented, driven? Or are they merely content to float through life and "catch as catch can"? I like to think of myself as belonging to the former category, but my actions show I really belong in the latter.

I need to make some changes. I need to do it now. I don't need to worry about maintaining these changes for the duration of my life. I just need to worry about sustaining them today. Tomorrow will take care of itself, but today I need to sustain these changes. I've mentioned my mirror sticker in a former post, but it says, "Who will you be today?"

That's my question for myself...who will I be today?