Ben's Blog (but you can use it if you want)

UPDATE

2011-12-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about blogging for a while but haven't gotten around to it until now. A six-month blogging hiatus is usually caused by a lack of bloggable material. I guess I can't use that excuse this time since I've had a lot going on over that time.

But let's see, where do I start? How 'bout the beard?

About a year ago Larisa and a friend of mine separately suggested I apply for the New Testament project the Church was producing. I figured "what the heck!?" (an expression of casual indifference, not to be confused with "what the heck?!" an expression of unexpected discontent) and filled out the necessary application. A few months later I received an email informing me that I had been accepted and imploring me to start growing out my hair and beard. So I did.

It wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be. Sure, the occasional mustache hair would leave the pack and climb into my nose or my longer hair would get into my eyes and ears, but it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. In fact, it seemed everyone else noticed it a lot more than I did.

By the time filming rolled around, I had quite a crop of facial hair. Here it is in progression: Of course, going to shoot the movie meant I had to leave Washington and the hospitality of David and Jeanne's family. I had a great time living up there and working on the fun property they have. This time Cooper and I weren't roommates, but we still did a lot together. He's quite the athlete and can almost beat me in billiards and baseball fielding drills. I coached him to flag football stardom and we even got to see a couple of Mariners games. Sadly, our favorite team had an historic slump in July--losing game after game. On Saturday, July 23rd they lost their 14th consecutive game, tying a franchise record. Cooper, knowing I was leaving soon, asked how much longer I was staying. I had planned to leave on Monday the 25th but I said "maybe when the Mariners win a game". I expected him to say that he wanted them to win their next one, but instead he said "Then I hope they lose a hundred in a row". That's when I knew we were real buds.

On July 27th, the Mariners 17-game losing streak came to an end. I left the next day.

After leaving Washington, I swung by Nevada for a bit. Whenever I'm in Nevada, I visit the Faveros, spend some time with them, and have a lot of fun. Then I go to the homestead, spend some time with them, and decide I should have just stayed with the Faveros.

Filming for the New Testament project began in late August and went through early October. A typical day started early in the morning and went for at least twelve hours. It was a really neat experience and the production seemed to be really quality. I would feel extremely ungrateful if I didn't thank Liz and Ryan for letting me stay at their place during filming--it was really nice to be reasonably close to the middle-of-nowhere set (It took me 45 minutes to drive each way but I was closer than almost anyone else). I was on set 18 different days as a background player. Some days I was a villager, other days I was a traveler (basically the same as a villager but you're dustier and carry a satchel), and a couple of times I was a temple guard. People keep asking me when they'll see the clips. I don't know the schedule but I do know they'll be showing some applicable scenes at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I'm in a few of those scenes for a couple of seconds.

After the filming was done I cut my hair and shaved my beard. I didn't even recognize myself. You know how when you lose a tooth and you keep feeling the empty spot with your tongue because it feels so different. It was like that with my chin after I shaved...except I kept feeling it with my hand instead of my tongue. I also thought about that one picture in Dad's scrapbook where he has a mustache and how hilarious I thought it was as kid. I'm glad I had an excuse to grow a big beard and think every man should grow theirs out at least once.

Anyway, after filming was done and my beard was gone, I began looking for gainful employment. This Monday I start my new job as the Marketing Editor for Silhouette America in American Fork. Here's a video of their main product. Basically, I'm going to be doing their writing.

Anyway, that should bring you up to speed.

Bye.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you've been keeping up with the different blogs, you have doubtless seen this picture from Jeanne's blog:

Of course, as you know, these are the Lindsey chicks--Midnight, Cinnamon, and Sunshine. They have been living here for a little while and the girls love them. I try not to get too attached.

You see, I too had a baby chicken for a pet once. She looked very similar to Sunshine in the above picture. My first-grade class hatched her in an incubator and I was lucky enough to take her home. She was the first (and best) friend I ever had.

As I recall, I was a quiet, reflective, and introverted child--being neither heard nor seen--never asking for anything and never getting anything. I spent my time, by myself, studying about dinosaurs and writing poetry.

One of my fondest moments of first grade was watching our class chick hatch, I knew that fluffy ball of feathers was something special. Little did I know then, as I watched her come out of her shell, that she would help me come out of mine.

The next few days were some of the happiest in memory. My little friend would follow me everywhere. I started to become more confident. My stammering and stuttering became less frequent. I was standing taller and smiling bigger. Below is a video still of me during that time:

As you can see, I was full of vim and vigor. I dreaded the hours I had to spend at school and away from my friend. Each day I would run as fast as I could from the bus stop to the house to be reunited with her. But one day, as I descended the hill towards our house, I could see Mom with a troubled look on her face. She told me that my friend had died. I was crushed--like a baby bird under the weight of an automatic garage door operated by a malicious three-year-old.

I buried her in the back yard. It was the saddest day of my life.

As I thought back on those days and the love a boy had for his chicken, I began to think about the love a father must have for his children. And, seeing as it's Father's Day, I thought I would be remiss if I didn't express my appreciation and love for my own Father.

Thanks, Dad, for all you do and all you've done. I love you and hope you're having a great Father's Day.

Happy Mother's Day Everyone...especially Mom

2011-05-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I was surfing the internet t'other day when I remembered that, in the past, people had these individual sites called "blogs" and that, in fact, I had had my own such blog which I updated on rare occasion. I typed in my URL to see if it was still up and, to my amazement, it was. However, I didn't have anything to post until now.

You see, today is Mother's day, and if there's anything I love to blog about it's Mom. Now I know what you're thinking, "You're going to write one of your Mom-posts on Mother's day? How cruel." And the answer to your hypothetical thought is "No, I'm going to keep this post very civil. After all, Mom is like a brother to me."

Actually, the last few times I've talked to Mom she's been surprisingly pleasant--almost uncomfortably so. I kept expecting her to break character, but she never did. Of course the skeptic in me thought she was metaphorically building a gingerbread cottage in Virginia City (à la 'Hansel and Gretel'). But the psychoanalyst in me grasped on to this quote from her recent blog post .

Today I, David and Craig and I went to Virginia City for a picnic and I dropped Craig and DavidDad off for the much awaited 10 mile bike ride down hill to our home.

"I, David and Craig and I"!? Don't you see? Multiple personalities! I must have been talking to the nice side (we'll call her 'Mom') and not the other side (we'll call her 'moM' [Mom spelled backwards]). I remember 'Mom' being around more often when I was younger but this 'moM' character has been running the show for the last several years.

So, as I was reminiscing about 'Mom' I remembered one of her favorite poems:

"I love you, Mother," said little John;
Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on.
And he was off to the garden swing,
Leaving his mother the wood to bring.

"I love you, Mother," said little Nell,
"I love you more than tongue can tell."
Then she teased and pouted half the day.
'Til her mother was glad when she went to play.

I love you, Mother," said little Fan,
"To-day I'll help you all I can;
How glad I am that school doesn't keep!"
So she rocked the baby till he fell asleep.

Then stepping softly, she took the broom,
And swept the floor, and dusted the room.
Busy and happy all day was she;
Helpful and happy as a child could be.

"I love you, Mother," again they said,
Three little children going to bed.
How do you think that mother guessed
Which of them really loved her best?

I thought 'moM' might enjoy a poem of her own, so I jotted down this one:

"I love you, Mother," said Anabelle;
Then, 'forgetting' her script, she waved farewell.
And she was off to catch her flight,
Leaving her mother a play to write.

"I love you, Mother," said accountant Dirk,
"But this plan of yours will not work."
And he spoke logic half the day.
'Til his mother was glad when he went away.

"I love you, Mother," said brain-dead Blanche,
"I'll be a part of your guest ranch;
And all who come will be truly blessed!"
So she sewed a dozen cowboy vests.

Then, driving through Virginia City,
She lied and said "This place is pretty".
They talked and talked and talked some more,
About Nevada winning the Civil War.

"I love you, Mother," again they'll say,
When they talk to her on Mother's Day.
How do you think that mother'll guess
Which of them really loves her best?

Well, before I go, let me wish a happy Mother's Day to all the great moms in our family. And, Mom, I hope you know that I love and appreciate you (though I'm not too fond of that 'moM' lady you've been hanging around with).

I predicted it!

2011-01-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

I knew Elise couldn't resist responding to the blog post I wrote an entire year ago.

Happy ___________ to you!

2010-12-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Today is a big day. It was supposed to be one of my best blog posts ever. For starters it is my 25th blog post! (Wow 25 already, that's almost as many as most people write in an entire week) It's also the birthsday of sister Weebs and niece Rachael (birthsday, I believe is the proper way to define a day on which multiple people were born, since more than one birth is being celebrated rather than more than one day). Also, Christmas is fast approaching and, since I average less than one post a month, it is more than likely that this post would have to serve as some sort of holiday greeting as well.

But it seems I'm having some technical difficulties and can't upload the pictures that I wanted to.

So...Happy 25th blog post to me, Happy Birthsday to Elise and Rachael, and here's a little video to get you in that festive mood.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

So it's October 31st. If you're like me, you probably don't have a costume. Never fear. There's an old standby that you can dust off anytime and it's always a big hit.

First, you've got to get a disgusted look on your face. Second, bend one arm to a 72 degree angle and rest the bent elbow on your hip. Now, fully extend the fingers on that same arm but spread them out only slightly. Next, quickly thrust the same hand back and forth in 4/4 time with a range of motion of only three or four inches. Pull you chin into your upper neck. After you've got all these elements going simultaneously, say something like "Ugh! This is such an evil holiday." Then add something like "A lady in our old ward told me...", or "I was reading on the internet...", or "One time, when we lived in Alaska...". What you say after that doesn't really matter because you most likely will have been tuned out.

Can you guess what the costume is? That's right--a Witch! Ha ha ha ha!

I jest, I jest.

Anyway, I guess it was kind of ironic that my last post's purpose was to get Elise to blog again, and then I went on a blogging hiatus. But, you can't argue with results. Since I called her out less than two months ago, Elise has blogged 18 times.

DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH!

I guess she has more to write about than I do. I mean, right now I'm just typing words to take up space. This sentence is completely superfluous. As is this one. In fact, this whole paragraph is basically a waste, both in the time it took me to write it and in the time you took to read it. Yet I keep writing and you keep reading. Perhaps were both hoping it comes to some grand conclusion or helps to uncover some startling epiphany. At least then the invested effort would be justified. But nine sentences in and there is still nothing. Now ten sentences. Alright, I guess that last sentence was incomplete and shouldn't count but this sentence will make it ten and, if you count the incomplete sentence as a half, then the tally would be ten and a half, but this is turning into a run-on sentence and that should count extra which, when totaled with the incomplete sentence, makes it an even 11. Now any chance of salvaging anything useful from this paragraph is looking less and less likely. It's looking more and more like a lost cause. If some sort of meaningful substance isn't produced soon, not only will you regret reading this paragraph, but perhaps the entire blog post. Indeed, the negative aspects of this useless paragraph could offset any benefit from the rest of the post. The awesome Mom-jab at the beginning may not even be enough to redeem it now. And I really, really liked that Mom-jab. Now, my time has already been spent in writing, and if i delete this paragraph then all I've got is a really good Mom-jab. Sure, a good Mom-jab can stand on its own, but if I delete this huge paragraph then it will look like I went two months without posting anything except a Mom-jab (albeit a decidedly good one). Plus you've already read this far so you really probably don't have anything better to do. Here's what I'll do, I'll type a sentence in red before this paragraph telling you in no uncertain terms not to read it and then, if you do, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

Bentionary

Mom-jab [mom-jab] (noun) Any lighthearted observations about one's own mother's personality, habits, and/or mannerisms.

I was wondering

2010-09-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

where Elise went.
She promised she would be more consistent in her blogging.
I'd like to blog for her,
but I don't have her password
(I tried to figure it out, but nothing worked).
So I'll use my blog and try to blog like her.
How hard could it be?

All you need is:

A partial sentence for a title (check)
The completion of that sentence in the main text (check)
One sentence per line maximum (check)
A list (check)
A picture of feet

Check.

Please blog again soon, Weebs. Your feet pictures are much more interesting than mine.

This is the title of my blog post

2010-07-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, check it out. I got a new blog background. I know you were familiar with the old one and now it looks all different. Don't worry. You'll get use to it.

It's kind of like when you know someone for a long time and then they get a new hairstyle and it takes a while to get use to it, and then, after you do get use to it you see a picture of them before they changed their hairstyle and you're like "hey remember when you looked like that and we called you 'haystack'?" And they say something like "It's not my fault my hair looked like that for so long. You set my hair on fire when I was in first grade and it wouldn't grow anymore after that." And then you question the feasibility of their claims and the best response they can come up with is something like, "well, all I know is that my hair didn't grow at all for like 10 years...so, hmm."

Or, to use an example that is applicable to me, it's like when I grew a beard and everyone said how different I looked and it turned out to be the talk of the family for a long time. The pandemonium really was quite surprising. I was getting all sorts of requests for before and after photos from people who had heard rumors about it. Unfortunately I couldn't post those photos...until now.

Here is the "before" photo that was taken with haysta...I mean, Elise:

And here is the "after" photo:

As you can see, there's not much difference between the before and after, but you should have seen the "during".

You can tell by the picture of Elise and I that we get along pretty good these days. That's one good thing that came about from Mom relentlessly trying to set Elise up. You see, it use to be that Elise filled a special place in Mom's heart. So much so that Mom declared that, given the opportunity, she would swap me for another Elise. This prompted me to photoshop a picture of myself morphing into Elise with the caption "Mom's wish come true" written across the top. However, since Elise spurned Mom's dream son-in-law (he's a rancher...he's a cowboy) she has dropped a few degrees on the valuemometer, not quite to my level but a step in the same direction.

With Elise in her new position, there is only one thing left in the top spot--the guest park. In a recent blog post, she spoke of the latest in a string of potential properties with a fondness and zeal not often exhibited. For some reason, she made some obscure reference to her dream property being comparable to Dad wearing pink tights and a headband. I'm not sure what she meant, but I thought it would make a fun representation of Mom's new wish come true.

If you question her sanity, look no further than this comment she left on my blog on January 10th of this year:

My secret dream is to have the whole family move to Eastern California
(beautiful Plumas County) or Western Nevada and have our own home school. At least California allows $2000 for each student for supplies, lessons, computer,
books, etc. Everyone could have a part in teaching, babysitting, chauffeuring or
contributing to the success of the education in their own way.

I guess it's this kind of thing that made it impossible to resist taking a picture of her in the cooler in David's house that resembles a cell in an insane asylum.

Or maybe I'm just mean. That is, after all, why I took and posted this picture:

We did have a good time with all the relatives that came up during phone book delivery. These two buds were romping around the place practicing their marksmanship and just having a lot of cousin fun.

There was a whole bunch of 'cousin fun' while the Barbens were up here, including the time they went all "little bunny foo foo" and killed more than sixty field mice that David had scared up while mowing the pasture.

Well, that pretty much brings you up to date on everything in my life aside from what I'm doing, so...Goodnight.

Bentionary

val-ue-mom-e-ter [val-yoo-mom-i-ter] (noun) A standard Mom uses to determine relative worth, merit, or importance.

Déjà vu?

2010-05-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

So Eliza had her 5th birthday a couple days ago and I thought to myself, "something is familiar about all this."

I then thought back to two years ago--when I first came up to work for David on his phonebookin' crew. Eliza was then celebrating her 3rd birthday.

I knew I had taken some pictures on that day as well, so I went through some of my old photo files and found this little gem that I snapped just before Eliza had her Dora the Explorer cake.
Upon comparison of the two photographs, I noticed that Eliza was wearing the same shirt on both occasions.

What are the odds? Same girl, same day, same shirt--two years apart.

Then I got to thinking that a lot of things are the same as they were two years ago. And as I thought about the past two years, the word nostalgic came into my mind. Then, I suppose because it is an odd sounding word, I kept repeating it over and over in my head--and within a few moments, as it always does, the word morphed into nuh-stal-jeek.

As I sat there with that oboesque pronunciation echoing through my brain (nuh-stal-jeek, nuh-stal-jeek, nuh-stal-jeek...), I remembered it is about time for my annual belated mothers' day well wishes. Indeed, this time of year almost makes me remorseful for all the instances I jokingly told people that I never knew my Mother because she had died three months before I was born.

In hopes of making amends, I have decided to give her the thing she wants most from me. The thing that will bring her the most happiness. And the thing that gives meaning to her life in her old age. Pictures of horses.

So there you are Madre. Hopefully these pictures are enough to slake your equiniferous appetite.

Below is my Bentionary. It's got definitions for words I make up in my blog post (the underlined words).

Bentionary

o-bo-esque [oh-boh-esk] (adj.) Having the characteristics of an oboe esp. in tone.

e-quin-if-er-ous [ee-kwhayn-if-er-uhs, ek-whyan-if-er-uhs] (adj.) Having, producing, or relating to horses.

Hangin' out with the Lindseys

2010-04-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

While we were up in Washington, Elise and I stayed with David and Jeanne's family. I got a chance to take a bunch of pictures and here are some of them. They're not really in any logical order because blogger is weird like that.

The Fam.
Tommy learning to crawl.

Sisters!

Eliza is happy to have her picture taken...

...sometimes.

Soph. Soph. Soph. Soph. Soph. Soph.

Playing Cyclo Maniacs on the laptop.

Cooper the businessman selling rocks from an ironing board. Prices range from $.25 to $1000. Be advised, he does not accept checks.

Brothers!

Cooper studying his countries and capitals.

Alice

Cooper at baseball practice.

Sophia showing off her missing tooth.

Alice eating ice cream.

Hangin' out with the Barben's

2010-04-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

After the Favero's house, Elise and I were up in Washington. We visited the Barbens a few times. Elise had my camera a lot of the time and took several pictures of the kids so watch her blog for those. Here are a few I took after playing some baseball with the boys.

Bronson getting ready to launch a home run.
It looks like Bret Jr. knocked another one out of the park.

Jake makes a diving save.

And Bronson robs an anonymous slugger of another one.

Hangin' out with the Faveros

2010-04-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Again, it's been a while since I've blogged. Since y'all heard from me last I have been all over the place. Elise and I came out to Nevada after the Jensens were kind enough to let me stay at their place in Utah for quite a few weeks. We had a lot of fun and I was able to document it in pictures. Here are but a few of them:

Juliet is always smiling--even while warming the bench.
We went Geocaching with the older kids. They all love each other.

The cache was set up in a few different legs. One of which leads us by a foul-smelling waste water reclamation plant.

See, there it is.

The kids on an old tree.

...Still smiling...

In the car.

Elise is with three nieces. (That rhymes) Victor led us right to the cache.

Elise is with three nieces and victor in this picture. (Two rhymes)

Still in the tree.

Jerimiah, Colin, and Keira weren't with us on the photo shoot, but I did snap this one of them on the swing.

Look who's here

2010-02-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

I know everyone is anxious to see Liz and Ryan's new baby, Jacob. Here are a couple of photos I snapped shortly after they got home a few minutes ago.

It's me again

2010-02-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have not blogged in a while. I was unable to post pictures or videos and have just fixed the problem.

A few weeks back, Marae wrote a blog about the most annoying song in the world and posted a 20+ minute example. It was pretty rough stuff but I wouldn't go as far as to say the most annoying song in the world. Allow me to submit the following songs as examples of what may be even more annoying.

This is one that mom plays when she wants me to wake up. She knows I will have to get up to shut it off. Try to listen to the whole thing (at least until he starts singing around 40 seconds).

And this is one that some of you may remember. It was sung at my farewell.

She threatened to sing this song at my farewell for months beforehand even though I pleaded with her not to. So when I got my new camera and realized she didn't like me to take pictures of her, there was only one thing to do.

I've got dozens more but they take too long to upload so Mom lucked out.

Finally Updated

2010-01-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. It's been a long time since I've blogged. It's not that I didn't want to. I was all ready to post weeks ago. It seemed all the answers to the Winner of the Week challenge had been submitted. All were way off. In fact, only one person even guessed one of the quotations correctly. That person turned out to be Jon signed in as his wife. So I spent a few weeks making this banner:

Just as I went to post it, I noticed a new comment in my comment section. It was from Marae and she had guessed them all correctly. Yes, it's true; all of those quotes belong to Elise. The fourth one was on Marae's blog and the fifth one was on Elise's. I have spent the last few weeks creating a new poster for Marae--the true Winner of the Week!

Unfortunately, she hasn't posted an unobstructed picture of her face since she's been married, so I had to make do with what I had.

Strange, I know. But not as strange as the first time I heard some of the nieces and nephews singing "I saw Uncle Ben kissing Aunt Marae..." to the tune of I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus. I guess it's still taking a while to get used to having another Uncle Ben in the family.

Well, as you know, I've been up in Washington for a couple months. David's secret dream is to have the whole family move up here. It is a really nice place and full of natural beauty. Here's a picture of Deception Pass Bridge from Whidbey Island.

And here's a picture of Cooper and Sophia sledding after it snowed a few weeks ago.

Although they love playing together, they are overjoyed to have the Barben cousins so close. In fact, Cooper started a blog to chronicle his new adventures with them (however, the title of his blog sounds more like a reality TV show that pits two people from different walks of life against each other for the chance to win big money).

Speaking of games that pit people against one another for the chance to win big money, I have some bad news. The Winner of the Week challenge will be postponed until further notice.

I have no doubt that Elise will wait exactly one year before responding to this post.

2010-01-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

Isn't it weird that Elise does not like most breads, but loves toast?
So much so that she could probably eat an entire loaf of rye toast in one week. Then she would say something like "record".
FYI:She bought three loaves of bread her entire college career, 2 loaves being pumpkin chocolate chip (& zero packs of ramen).

O-blog-atory Post

2009-11-29T16:45:00.000-08:00

As can be inferred from the title, this is simply an obligatory post. I really don't have a lot to write about, but it's been a while since I've written.

First things first. It is my lamentable duty to report that no one correctly guessed the past "Winner of the Week" challenge. In fact, nobody even incorrectly guessed the answer. Therefore, the prize money from last week will carry over into this week's challenge. (By the way, the correct answer was John Lathrop.)

Since my last post, I have moved up to Washington and am working on a house for David. Since I'm raking in the big bucks, I decided to buy a new camera. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post because I had the camera shipped to the Yerington place with the expectation that I would get it at Thanksgiving. I decided not to attend the festivities but anticipated that Elise would bring my camera up when she came to visit--just like we had been planning for a few months. Then she called up one day and said, "Sorry Bro. I don't think I'll come up after all." Now I won't see my camera for a few more weeks.

Most people would say, "Don't blame it on Elise. She doesn't have to go up to Washington if she doesn't want to. Besides, it's not like she's maliciously plotting to keep your new camera from you."

To those people I would ask, have you even looked at her blog? She's got more pictures than she's got words. She's grabbed a major share of the photo-posting market and is trying to stymie my attemps to get in the game. All I can say is "enjoy it while you can, Elise. Once I get my camera your blog will have fewer hits than AAD."

To be the winner of the week, simply identify to whom these quotes belong:

1.) (Walking out of the house in nothing but underwear) "I'm running away!"

2.) "I would have to say my favorite season is....Lemon Pepper!"

3.) "Maw-awm, Ben's buying Starbursts and he's not gonna share."

4.) "Maraaae. if you're going to put this in the public, you need to talk to my agent. don't be ridiculous if you're talking about me. i have a reputation to keep...and morals to...obtain? UPHOLD. UPHOLD. stop. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep."

5.) "Oh sock locks, how I love you. The way you lock the socks so they stay together and don't become unlocked. What a precious and ingenious invention you are. Oh dear, sweet, glorious sock locks. This is my ode to thee and your useful simplicity. If I had but a penny for every fond memory I have of you, oh treasured sock locks, I would take those inevitable riches and purchase more sock locks, thus perpetuating a never ending cycle of sock locks, fond memories, pennies, and more sock locks...."

*Some of these quotes have been paraphrased. Two of them come from family members' blogs. Bonus points for identifying those blogs and the date the quotes were posted

The East Coast

2009-10-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

I just came home from a week on the East coast. It was pretty cool and I'll tell you all about it, but first things first. The last "Winner of the Week" challenge was pretty tough but not impossible. The correct identification for all 5 quotes was provided by Victor. Since he admitted to receiving the answers from his Mom, I will grant the award to both of them. Congratulations to the first co-"Winners of the Week"!!!

Here are the quotes attached to the person to whom they can be attributed.

So let me tell you about the East coast. We flew out of Salt Lake City last Thursday night and landed in New York City at about 5:30 a.m. We were met at the airport by my friend's Mom and drove a couple of hours to their house in Connecticut. After a a short nap we took a tour of the town and went down to the beach. The next day we all went to Boston. It was a nice city but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I guess Elise and Marae got my expectations too high. The highlight of the day was seeing this Gigantic pumpkin on the drive up.

The next day we went to church in Connecticut and stayed around my friend's house. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was spent in New York City. We saw a lot of the city in the three days we were there. The first day was spent at the Museum of Modern Art, St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue, and Times Square. The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and then ended the day by going to a performance of Hamlet on Broadway.

On the last day in the city we stopped by the Manhattan temple, walked through Central Park, played the giant keyboard at F.A.O. Schwartz,

visited Rockefeller Center, went to the Chrysler Building, and to the top of the Empire State building. I was impressed by how big the city was. By the time we got back to Salt Lake, the city looked tiny.

Thursday was spent in Connecticut again. My friend's family prepared a big lobster dinner for us which was excellent. The next day we packed up, drove to the airport and flew home. It was a really neat trip and I had a lot of fun.

So here is the "Question of the Week": Which ancestor is buried in the same Boston cemetary as Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Mother Goose?

I've been tagged!

2009-09-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Elise, the very first Winner of the Week. She correctly identified the "Lobster Man" reference from my last post. For those of you who didn't get the reference, Marae sings a song about being a lobsterman's wife. I have attached a youtube video with the song below. (It is not Marae singing, nor is the animation done by myself or anyone I know)

As I was reading Mom's blog, I noticed that she tagged me back in the day when people were doing that sort of thing. I figured it's better late than never, so here it goes.

5 things I've done in the past 10 years:

Graduated from High School

Got a Hernia

Stayed all alone in a hotel for Christmas

Replaced the alternator on a '96 Saturn

Ate a good hamburger

5 things I wish I could do today:

A back flip

Chop down a tree

Sneeze with my eyes open

find a good hamburger

Eat a good hamburger

5 foods I wouldn't live without:

Ribs

Bacon

BBQ'd Meats

Buffalo Wings

Good Hamburgers

5 things I'd do if I were a millionaire:

Get new tires for my rig

Get a roof rack for my rig

Reupholster my rig

Get a new air freshner for my rig

Buy a new rig and a good hamburger

5 places I have lived:

Alaska

Idaho

South Africa

Utah

Cooper's room

----------------------------------------------

The next "Winner of the Week" will be the person who most quickly and accurately identifies the author of each of the following quotes:

1) "Gimme some uh dem chips."

2) "I lite ta play bak-skit-baaaw."

3) "Oh garbage!"

4) "I had lunch at Big Mac's"

5) "I've got vision. I've got vision. I've got vision. Who could ask for anything more?"

Who will be the very first "Winner of the Week"?

2009-09-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

So it seems Mom has finally updated her blog after nearly a year. Check it out and be sure to leave a few comments so she knows people are actually interested (at least more interested than in the AAD blog...that shouldn't be hard to do)

In reading Mom's newer posts you will notice that she incorrectly states that we attended "Marae and Ryan's wedding". Of course we all know she married Ben Campbell, but I was under the impression she would end up with this guy:

NOTE: The first person to correctly explain the previous reference in my comments section will be the "Winner of the Week" and will receive recognition and accolades in my next blog post.

Also, in going through some other blogs, I discovered Bella, Rachael B., Victor, and Nick all have blogs I didn't know about. Check those out too.

Marae's Wedding

2009-08-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

Marae had her wedding last week and she looked positively radiant. Unfortunately, Elise couldn't make it. She is very anxious to see some pictures so I will post some here.

The Bride and Groom exiting the temple

Such a cute couple!

Everyone loved this dress Marae wore.

Awww...too precious for words!

The fam.

It was such a wonderful day, too bad you couldn't be there Weebs. Enjoy the pics.

(Here are the real photos http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2147168014/a=105498603_105498603/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/)

A quick update

2009-07-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever turned a keyboard upside-down and shook it only to have what looks like 1/2 cup of Mrs. Dash fall into your lap? Neither had I, until now. I'm sitting at the computer in the New Plymouth house trying to think of something to blog about, but there isn't much. I went up to Washington and helped deliver phone books, but that's already been thoroughly documented here, here, and here . A couple days later, David and Jeanne's family came down to New Plymouth and David, Jon, Cooper, Hyrum, Lydia, and I went camping. However, those events have been chronicled here and here. So there's not much left for me to say. I've been in NP for a few weeks irrigating and such while Dad, Mom, & Craig are wandering in the desert. As you can imagine, there's not much to do here, so I have decided to hone some skills in the meantime. As some of you know, I constructed an "insulated carcass wrapper" out of denim.

(I prefer 'constructed' to 'sewed' and 'insulated carcass wrapper' to 'quilt'... those terms seem less gay)

I've also been watching a lot of TV. There is a show on PBS called "Barbecue University" that has inspired me a lot. I bought a bag of charcoal and have smoked/cooked two chickens and about eight pounds of beef in the last few days. It's been pretty enjoyable.

After the success of my Lego videos, I have made a couple of short clips with nieces and nephews. Here, Eliza rides Cooper like a skateboard and moves through walls.

And here, Hyrum upsets the four-wheeler after he kicks it and then miraculously escapes.

From camping to cupcakes

2009-06-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

It seems it is time for an update on my recent activities and what not. I'll begin with the 'activities' and then move into the 'what not'.

I mentioned in my last blog that I was going camping over Memorial Day weekend with my friend, Jason Bergquist. We hiked up to a little area above Alpine, Utah called the Second Hammongog. We were hoping to hike up a little further to a mountain lake and fish, but there was snow covering the trail after we had hiked up a few thousand feet. Here's a picture of our campsite just as we were getting into snow.

And this is us taking a break on our way back down.

We packed up a ton of food because we had been on campouts before where we basically starved, so we decided that heavy pack were better than empty stomachs. We ended up giving away or throwing away a lot of it but we ate like kings.

By the time we came down off the mountain, neither of us had showered for about four days and the odor was becoming palpable. We had little choice but to head to the local car wash and hose off. After some suds, a spot-free rinse, and a wax we went to a park restroom to change. I felt like a classy homeless guy.

Even though we weren't able to make it up to the lake, had to throw away a lot of food, and rinse off in a car wash, the whole trip was pretty fun. Plus I got to see Elise an Marae and my now-future-brother-in-law Ben.

I didn't have a picture of him so I had to do an online image search--the photo above came up. I don't know if it's a school picture or what, but it turns out that he was voted one of the ten 'most-wanted' men in New Mexico. Sounds like Marae got quite a catch.

With Marae occupied with Ben, Elise is feeling neglected. She now calls me about five or six times a day looking for someone to talk to. She has also posed some questions to me in a recent blog post. Basically the query stems from a brief conversation we had about fads in which I listed some current fads which have reached their climax and are, in my opinion, on their way down. I told her that fads are usually targeted at women and that a sure fire way to spot a fad is by the prevalent use of pink in the logo. She seemed skeptical so I did a search for logos of a couple fads I have observed--cupcakes.

And Frozen Yogurt...

I think you get the point. Pink seems to be used to sell a product when the product can't sell itself, either because it is of inferior quality or unjustifiable price. Can you think of any company that has a pink logo that has been around for a long time? (Aside from Owens Corning, the construction products company, who use it in their branding for entirely different reasons) But why pink? Here's my theory, pink is very feminine and invokes the 'princess mentality' as described in this article which states that girls grow up with ''all the pink, frilly and sparkly'' princess accessories and that, "For many women, there's still a piece from childhood to want to be a princess." As everyone knows, fairytale princesses can have anything they want and always have the latest and greatest--the fads. By marketing to women with pink, marketers are appealing to the inner childhood fancies of women one cupcake at a time. That's not to say fads are bad, they play an important role in a thriving economy, just don't expect current fads to be around in such invasive numbers too long. Frozen yogurt and cupcakes will be around forever, but the shops that deal exclusively in any one item will fail as soon as that item is no longer in demand. I hope that answers your question Weebs.

Sharing a ton about Yerington

2009-05-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

So, I've been a blogger now for a little over a year. In that time, very little has happened in my life--which would explain why I have so few posts. The latest blog-worthy event comes with my exodus to visit the new homestead in Yerington.

Oops, that's a picture of a dustbowl-era house. I easily confuse the two. Here's the Yerington house.

We've been working for a few weeks to make it look as nice as it does in this photo. Lots of landscaping, digging, hauling, burning, blistering, and such. But it's fast becoming Mom's dreamhouse...or at least the latest in a series of dreamhouses. I guess as soon as one is done she dreams of another. Which would explain the results of the latest poll.

When asked how long it would be before Dad and Mom move again, 50% said between 1 and 5 years. The other half predicted less than one year.

Elise has already moved away. I don't know if she got sick of cooking or simply fed up of Mom trying to set her up with an older gentleman from the ward ('he's a rancher...he's a cowboy'). I, too, will be leaving ASAP. I plan on going back to Provo for a little while. My buddy, Jason Bergquist and I are going on a camping trip over Memorial Day weekend. After that, maybe I'll hike the 'Y' again with Elise.

Or maybe I'll hang out with Marae before she heads off to Maine.

Whatever the case, I'll keep ya'll in 'da loop.

See what I did there? I took the letters from those three words and highlighted the ones that spell 'Linda', thus creating the perfect segue to wish Mom a happy belated Mother's Day.

Oops, that's a picture of a dustbowl-era mom. Here's the Yerington Mom.

Oh, by the way, Craig has a blog now. check it out by following the link on the right side of this page. And, as always, answer the poll question.

The Results are in!

2009-04-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

The results for the recent poll "What is your least favorite Mom punishment?" are in, and they could not have been closer.

Twenty-five percent of respondents indicated that being tied to the bed was their least favorite punishment.

Another twenty-five percent were of the opinion that having your nose rubbed into whatever it was you spilled was the worst.

A separate twenty-five percent said the silent treatment (with the mean looks and heavy nostril breathing) followed by an unpredictable tirade after about ten minutes was the worst with one person noting that "while she does this she also bustles around washing dishes and wiping off the counter, periodically darting daggers in your direction with her eyes."

The final quarter of people polled selected the 'other' option but only one (Craig) elaborated in the comments section, saying, "what about when mom storms into the room and starts yelling at you, then she leaves. Then a little over a minute, maybe a minute and a half, later she reappears again. This time she runs into the room waving a sharp object of some kind, like a knife or scissors. Then she yells at you some more. Finally, she does it. SHE CUTS THE TELEVISION CORD. OH NO! However, occasionally one may get lucky and she will leave the house. Thus, we can sit around doing nothing or watch Ben fix the TV cord. Or you can watch Craig almost get shocked as he attempts to do the same thing he saw [Ben] do."

I suspect that one of the 'other' options was selected by Mom herself who, after admonishing me that the poll was a rude thing to do, informed me that her favorite punishment was to knock her kids' heads together. Apparently, if two children are fighting with each other, a couple of mild concussions will unite them in mutual disdain for the punisher.

Anyway, those were the results from the poll. If you want to find out what I've been up to, feel free to keep reading.

I guess the big news is that I found out that I didn't get into the 'Y' or the 'U'. I also didn't get into the Easter candy back in 1999 despite what Elise told Mom. The 'Y' said I didn't have enough work experience, the 'U' said my GPA was too low, and Elise simply stuck her tongue out at me, shook her head back and forth, and gave me a look as if to say "ha ha ha, Mom will always believe me 'cause I'm her favorite."

Does it ever bother you when people change topics without a trasitionary sentence or phrase? Me too, it's kind of annoying.

My birthday was a few weeks ago. Thanks to all the well-wishers who called and offered their well-wishes. Also a very special thanks to Marae and the-other-Ben, the Jensens, and Grandma for celebrating my birthday with me.

My birthday-buddy, Athena, and her family came up for Easter. The Faveros are always fun and we had a good time while they were here.

Unfortunately, I haven't really taken any pictures for a while so I don't have any to post except this one of Craig.

He keeps insisting that Dad and Mom get some rabbits at their new place for him to take care of.

Also, I've received a lot of comments about the LEGO videos I made so here's another one.

Enjoy, and answer the latest poll question.

A scintilla of what I've been up to

2009-03-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

So, if you read Liz's blog recently, you will know that the B²ME club (Ben, Ben, Marae, and Elise) went to the Jensen's house to eat dinner and play games. One of the games we played was Boggle.

The object of the game is quite simple—each player searches for words that can be constructed from the letters of sequentially adjacent cubes, where "adjacent" cubes are those horizontally, vertically or diagonally neighboring. Words must be at least three letters long, may include singular and plural (or other derived forms) separately, but may not use the same letter cube more than once per word. Each player records all the words he or she finds by writing on a private sheet of paper. After three minutes have elapsed, all players must stop writing and the game enters the scoring phase.
In the scoring phase, each player reads off his or her list of discovered words. If two or more players wrote the same word, it is removed from all players' lists. For all words remaining after duplicates have been eliminated, points are awarded based on the length of the word. The winner is the player whose point total is highest.

Marae ended up winning the game, so I have decided to improve and increase my vocabulary. Not only should this help me in Boggle, but it has been shown that if you know a lot of words it makes you sound smarter. Or, as I always say, a capaciously commodious lexicon propagates a presupposition of perspicaciousness propitious to the confabulator.

To help me in this endeavor, I have decided to utilize Dictionary.com's "word of the day" feature. Each day a new word is featured along with its definition, origin, and usage examples. Today's word is "scintilla".

scintilla \sin-TIL-uh\, noun: A tiny or scarcely detectable amount; the slightest particle; a trace; a spark.

Since doing this, my Boggle skills have improved. With a cursory glance at the above Boggle grid I found:

crackers, accusers, suckers, sounder, resound, rackers, huskers, duckers, dackers, cracker, accuses, accuser, sunder, sucres, sucker, soucar, racker, onuses, nouses, husker, ducker, dacker, cracks, accuse, users, under, suers, sucre, sucks, sound, sonde, snuck, racks, nukes, nuder, noses, husks, hucks, dusks, dukes, ducks, cusks, crack, cared, cadre, arcus, acres, acred, uses, user, sues, suer, suck, rhus, rare, rack, onus, nuke, nude, nous, nose, husk, huns, hues, huck, herd, dusk, duos, duns, duke, dues, duck, dare, cusk, cues, care, card, cade, acre, use, sun, sue, sud, sou, son, ser, res, red, rad, oud, nus, nos, hun, hue, her, era, edh, duo, dun, due, cue, cud, car, cad, are, arc, and ade.

131 words worth 215 points, not too bad. Or, should I say, not even a scintilla of...badness.

On a completely different but not completely unrelated note, when we went out to Liz & Ryan's house I returned the bin of LEGOs I had borrowed from Davy and Danny. I had been using them to try out some stop motion animation—where you set up a scene, take a picture, change the scene slightly, take another picture, and continue that sequence until you have hundreds of pictures that, when viewed in rapid succession, create the illusion of movement. Here are a couple of brief examples:

Anyway, that's about it for now. Gratchiss for reading my blog. Be sure to answer the poll question.

(Results from "Favorite Craig Nickname" poll: C.R. C.R. da yoof uh da nayshin=50%, Fatboy=37%, Lover Boy=13%)

2009-01-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

It looks like it's time to blog once again. Some people like to blog as often as they change their socks--pretty much everyday. Me, on the other hand, blog about as often as I change my oil--every three months or 3,000 miles. Actually, it's been about five months since I last wrote, and I've traveled about 1,000,000 miles, so I'm pushing the limits.

Last time I wrote, I was living with David and Jeanne and their family. I had gone there under the pretense of working for David's company but was really investigating a theory held by many of our closest family members.

For years, at reunions and get-togethers, we had watched in awe at how amazing Jeanne was and wondered "how did David get a wife like her?" "Surely", we speculated, "there must be some major character flaw that has remained cleverly disguised. Or, perhaps, this is all a facade."

After months of observation, I had not run across any incriminating evidence. However, I spent much of my time at work and could not devote enough time to solving this great mystery. So I recruited Marae and Elise to join me. They quit their lucrative careers on the East coast and moved to Washington to aid me in the effort.

Having two more siblings up there was great. They kept an eye on Jeanne during the day and then we partied in the evenings. Unfortunately, they gave up after a few months of sleuthing and went home. Apparently they thought their detailed observations were pointless. I, however, had a suspicion that a breakthrough was about to be made. You see, in October David's family moved across town. I knew from experience that if anything could send someone into a murderous rage, it was moving. October came and went. Then November came--nothing! Finally, I concluded that Jeanne was genuinely awesome and returned home.

Although my investigation did not end the way I had expected, I was still grateful for the time I got to spend with David and his family. David and Jeanne are great parents and their kids are very smart and are learning some valuable skills. Here is a video of a talent they picked up by observing their dad.

While I was in Washington I bought a car. I had a feeling my old one was on its last leg so I got a 4-Runner. In fact, the car I was driving broke down between Idaho Falls and Pocatello last week as Craig was coming home from the temple. My new rig is great for picking up girls. As you can see, I'm picking up a girl in this picture. She's being a little immodest, but when you've got abs like that you like to show them off.

It's too bad about Craig, though. After two years on a bike he finally gets a car and it breaks down.

Speaking of breakdowns, mom decided to move to Nevada. I decided to move away. I'm now in Provo applying to business school. I'm in Marae's ward and Elise in gonna try to join the party too. Hopefully it's more eventful than my last trip to Utah when Elise took this picture of me standing motionless next to a narrow crack. It was a moment I'll either remember for the rest of my life or forget easily--probably the latter.

I guess that's what you have to expect from a girl who told me to take a picture of some people standing on top of a cliff and say it's me rather than actually taking a picture of me standing on top of a cliff. And, on that note, here's a picture of me standing on top of a cliff.

It's me again

2008-08-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

It seems it is time for my semi-annual blog update. Not a lot has happened since I last wrote, so it shouldn't take too long to bring you up to date. On May 31st, The David & Jeanne Lindsey family and I went on a hike on Whidbey Island (about 20 minutes from their home). This picture was taken on top of a mountain overlooking the water as Cooper and I were enjoying our sandwiches--his a peanut butter and jelly and mine a roast beef...with no jelly.

It was about the first time I had gotten out to "see the sights" since I had arrived. Prior to that, all time and effort had been allotted to one goal--getting the 2008-2009 Skagit and Islands Directory to the printer.

We all had spent many long hours trying to meet our print deadline. Some weeks I had as many overtime hours as regular hours. Some days we'd stay 'til 2:00, 3:00 or even 5:00 o'clock in the morning. Even when I was asleep, my dreams (or, more commonly, nightmares) were phone book related. Finally, at the end of June, all our files were sent to the printer to be turned into what has become the most used, most preferred, most referenced phone book in the area.

A few days later, I was on a plane to Reno, Nevada to visit Larisa and Nick and their family in Carson City. I did a little tile work and such at their house and hung out with the family for a couple of days before they went to a family camp and I went to visit Kirsten and Mussie and their girls.

I had originally only planned to be in California for a couple of days but, fortunately, I was able to stay longer. I hadn't been to the Berhan home in ages, so I'm glad I had the chance. When I first arrived, Mussie and his friend, Peter, were building a chicken coop for the chickens the Berhans are raising. I helped out a little on that, but they did the bulk of the work themselves because I was often out doing something else.

One of the first days I was there we went to the beach so I could try my hand at surfing. I got the paddling out part down pretty good but there were not many waves, so the standing up and riding the wave part (supposedly the key element of surfing) was never achieved. We spent several other days at the beach however, and I did successfully ride a boogie board.

Another interesting experience was my first excursion to an all-vegetarian restaurant. As many people know, I am a carnivorous person so this was uncharted territory for me. I ordered something that neither Kirsten nor anyone in her family had tried before. If I remember correctly, it was something covered in chili. I wont say if it was good or bad, but Kirsten and I both agreed that it tasted similar to a casserole that Mom would make up.

After about a week and a lot of fun, I flew back to Washington--just in time for distribution of the freshly-printed phone books. I began distributing to the businesses in Mount Vernon. It was nice to hear the responses of the people to the new book as they gently caressed the embossed cover and noticed the improved coverage area. To see their faces light up as they opened to the reverse directory. To hear their jubilant exclamations about the restaurant section or the maps or the coupons. To watch them hold back tears of glee as they declared that they had been waiting for this book for as long as they could remember. These were but some of the experiences I had in my days as a telephone directory delivery man. It is an experience I will not soon forget.

Towards the end of the distribution period, David, Cooper, myself, and a guy named Jim (from the office) took a ferry to the San Juan Islands to deliver books. We took two big trucks (David drove one and I drove the other) onto the islands and got books to as many people as we could. We spent the night on top of some moving blankets in the back of one of the trucks with a few pallets of books. Everyone at the office thought it was very intrepid of us to do such a thing, but I thought nothing of it. I guess when you grow up sleeping in the gutter of a Dodge van that carries the aroma of musty food cooler for a week you become somewhat desensitized to sleeping conditions.

The morning after we got home, Cooper's sister were happy to see him and were anxious to wake him up--as you can see in this picture.

They were, however, indifferent to the fact that I was home and would not let me join in on the enthralling conversations of their numerous

miniature dolls who all bear the same name--Polly Pocket. I guess my Polly was not as appealing as the others (but she did have a sweet spirit).

Since then things have slowed down a bit. We've gone fishing a couple of times. We went to a lake in Ferndale where David said Dad used to take us when we were younger. I caught a monster sized yellow perch but that was about all the action we saw that day. Cooper held it up for the picture. We've been salmon fishing a few times since and no one has caught anything except Cooper. He has caught close to ten little fish of various species with his new favorite bait--night crawlers.

We've also been to a few fairs. The Skagit County fair was fun. The kids wanted to see all the animals and ride the rides. Here's David and Eliza on the Merry-Go-Round. And here he is with Sophia and Alice at a musical performance. We also went to the Western Washington Fair so cooper could ride a sheep. I didn't see much of it because I was taking this picture but I heard he fell of and the sheep stepped on his head. Needless to say he is excited to go again.

To wrap things up, I thought I'd include a glimpse into the ingenuity of the Lindsey kids. Here they are attaching life jackets to the bottom of a sled so they could float in the pond. Cooper's maiden voyage left him with wet pants--but he was floating.

Well, that about does it for now. Check back in three to six months.

Eliza's Birthday

2008-05-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Eliza's Birthday. She's 3. She had a Dora the Explorer cake that Jeanne made--it was really cool.

Back in the land of my nativity

2008-05-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

So, I'm living with David and his family in Washington, I share a room with Cooper. He sleeps right through the night if he has his pink poodle.