NEWEST MEMBER OF THE FAMILY!!!

Well, apparently 3 kids weren’t enough…so, we added a 4th…not a kid, but a little Golden Retriever Puppy!  He is SO STINKING CUTE and the most chillin puppy i’ve ever seen…he is a beautiful light brown color…our friends Nate and Jackie have some exchange students in their church they are close to.  Well, they are BYU students and got the dog for a depressed roommate.  But, the super found out that they had the dog and told them the dog goes or all of them go.  So, they dropped it at Nate and Jackies and when we went over last night for dinner i took one look at him and was sold!  I’ve loved animals my whole life and couldn’t wait to get a Dog.  Lissette loves dogs and wanted to get one when the kids were a little older, but this one seems like the perfect dog.  I hope we are making the right decision :-)  We have our great friend Mia who has a big beautiful dog that is very well trained (he plays a little piano at the door when he wants to go out and do his business.  He also goes in a small square of gravel outside…very well trained)…she has been giving us all kinds of tips.

 

Here are a bunch of pics of him with the kids.  We haven’t named him yet…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE LOVE HIM ALREADY!!!

Price-less

 

Front row seats to Rockies vs Dodgers game = $175

Manny salary for game = $147,000

Ignoring Manny to yell at your daughter on national TV = Priceless

***UPDATE: ok, i just noticed after my 20th viewing that Dinger (the mascot) is behind price.  He is trying to get through, but price is blocking him and you can see Dinger throw his arms up in frustration and then turn around and leave.  It almost seems like he is mocking Price by copying him.  CLASSIC!

Why haven't you read this yet???

Ok, why isn’t this the most popular book in the world right now?  I gotta say, most books that are “mainstream” popular (Da Vinci Code, Twilight, etc.) in my opinion are horribly written and usually annoying (don’t tell me you think Bella is charming!!!)…so i am AMAZED when a book that is this incredibly written and the plot is flat out unputdownable (yeah, i made that up), that isn’t #1 on all of the best sellers lists…amazed people aren’t talking about it more…

So, what is this book you ask?  It is called “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.  I know I'm not alone because of the 528 reviews on Amazon, 474 are 5 star…so why hasn’t Oprah stood up on her show and dropped praise all over this thing???  The reviews on Audible are averaging 4.89 out of 5 stars based on 1,048 reviews – for an audio book, that is astounding.

Well, I'm trying to do my part…shoot, I'm only 3/4 of the way through and i can honestly say that if the ending is horrible (like Aliens come to earth and blow it up – mind you, the book takes place in Alabama in the ‘60’s and has nothing to do with Aliens) I'd still say it was one of the best books I've ever read…

So, either go buy it or get the audio book (which, by the way, is the best I've ever heard, hands down, and I've listened to close to a 50 in the last couple of years)…the reading of it – honestly – i feel is going to ruin whatever i read next because it will not sound as good, i can guarantee that…

 

In-N-Out in Utah, Rockies, DC and New York oh my!

Well, it is official – we are finally getting an In-N-Out near me (a block away from my office, might I add) and while looking for a date of completion i found that we here in Orem aren’t the only ones getting one…but apparently they are springing up all over (Draper, American Fork, West Jordan and Layton)…i can’t find proof, but was told yesterday by a friend that the reason they are finally expanding is the owner passed away (it is family owned, so i guess it was the mom) and she had never wanted to have a store that was outside of a delivery “zone” – so the meat wouldn’t have to be frozen…now that she is gone the children are branching out.  While i’m sad she passed away (cause she has all of my respect and more for starting In-N-Out), i’m glad the family is bringing it here…man, i can’t wait!  To quote my sexy wife, “oh great, now we are gonna get really fat!”…apparently she hasn’t looked at me in a while cause i passed that stage about 2,000 Dr. Pepper’s ago!

I’m VERY happy my Rockies are doing well going into the All Star break…i’ve been able to watch several games on TV, but nothing beats being at the game and we were able to catch 2 during the Seattle series and they were AMAZING…it was in the middle of their streak last month and my brother Price HOOKED US UP, as usual, and we had 3rd row behind home plate for the first game and first row between Hawpe and Helton for the 2nd game…

I’ve once again been sucked into Facebook (how can something so evil be so popular???) and found myself looking for a couple of old friends from High School that i spent much of my teenage years at their house in Oregon.  I finally found a site that mentions them and am crossing my fingers that they will respond…they aren’t on Facebook that i can tell (who can blame them), but hopefully they have e-mail :-)

We went on a 2 week trip to Denver, DC and New York that was absolutely incredible and i will have to post some pics of it as soon as i can…i am at a loss when i blog at work because my lovely wife has all of the pics on her computer at home…i do have a few from my iPhone that i will post because, apparently, many of you that read my blog don’t actually read the words but just look at the pictures – how juvenile! :-)

 

This might look like just mere dirt to you, but it is actually a picture of the dirt at Coors field.  The picture below this is from those seats (last year).  Well, to explain the dirt.  So, i forgot my glove this year and a foul ball was hit down the line and i leaned WAY over the wall to get it (i’m sure you’ve seen this on TV a ton – the guy leaning over the wall to tipping point)…so, i’m leaning way over and lissette is holding my legs.  The ball HITS my palm!  I was sure i had it and when i closed my hands it grazed off my fingers and moved an inch out of reach.  The picture above is the shot of my fingers digging in the dirt and the imprint of the ball just above my left finger drag.  Well, the picture below is of the grounds crew guy that was there (his name is Eric) and he walked over to the ball as i’m trying to get it and calmly picked it up.  i was like, “thanks Eric” and put my hand out as he proceeded to walk back towards first back, placing the ball in a 4 year old Japanese kids hand.  The kids was a MARINERS FAN!  They were screaming for Ichiro the whole time!!!  Man, i got ripped…shoud have brought at least one of my kids – then i’d get a ball!!!

This may be last year, but i swear he is looking at me knowing in a mere 302 days he is going to take a ball away from me and give it to an opposing fan!

This picture is from my parents mission in DC.  This is one of the Institute students they teach and he is amazing on the piano.  He played upside down, backwards and forwards.  Very impressive.

 Here are the girls in front of the White House.  So, we had just finished our private East Wing tour and were outside.  The girls saw a group of protestors out front and asked what they were doing so i said, lets go find out.  We walked over together and i was reading the signs to explain what they were doing there protesting.  There were several different groups (lower taxes, Iraq, Health Care, etc) and i was looking at one guys pamphlets about some sort of conspiracy with a judge or something when i noticed the girls were looking at a big poster board of tons of pictures of mutilated children in the Sudan.  They were quite wide eyed and i quickly wisked them over to the fence so they wouldn’t have to see the pictures and like a good parent said, “stand here for a picture in front of the White House and as i’m taking the picture notice they were looking behind me RIGHT AT the sign…man, what a classic move on my part…

Here the girls are on the bus in DC pretending what they would look like if the bus stopped suddenly and they hit the glass window in front of them.  Ah, the imagination of a child…

 

K, so this is a picture of a line.  I’m walking downtown New York at midnight, looking for food for my sexy love and myself and see this cart with this line – well, of course i jump in it not caring what food it is, but wanting whatever everyone thinks is good…then on the way back to our room I stop at another guy who’s food smelled amazing – again, not caring what it was – just wanting what smelled good…he didn’t have a line, but my nose knows…

So, i’m standing there with my bag and the guy says, “what’s in the bag” and i’m like, “i don’t know, just some food from up the street” and his friend who was behind me starts yelling, “OH MAN, THAT IS COLD! YOU DON’T KNOW??? THAT IS COLD! SOMEONE GET ME A KNIFE.”  So, i’m not sure what is going on and he yells, “THAT’S THE COMPETITION MAN” and the guy scooping up my food says to his friend, “See, that’s what i’m saying.  That’s exactly what I've been saying.” and then turns to me and says, “why did you get food from there?” and before i could answer he said, “it was because of the line, right?” and i said, “yeah, of course”…so the guy behind me keeps razzing me and the guy scooping the food is talking to his friend about the fact that it is all about the line…line this and line that…so, he give me the food and i take it back to the room…i tell paris, maria and lissette the story without telling them which one was the “line” food (it ends up being they are both Greek)…well, 3 of the 4 of us like the non-line guy the best…just goes to show you, lines don’t always mean grub (except in Japan when it comes to Sushi – we can vouch for a line in Tokyo for sure!)

 

 

HOW DARE YOU NBC – Medium is one of the best shows on your dumb network!

Seriously, i get so fed up with the networks for dropping shows that are well written and made and replacing them with crap!  I mean, come on, “The Jay Leno Show” are you kidding me???  Why in the world are you taking 5 hours from your PRIMEtime to give to someone that isn’t as funny as single strand of David Letterman’s nappy hair?  Leno can’t TOUCH Craig Ferguson for all out ad-lib, timing and overall humor…freak, Conan runs comedic circles around him…HE DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE IN PRIME TIME LET ALONE SUCK 5 HOURS OF IT EACH WEEK…period!  He is easily the least funny talk show host on TV and I'm including Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly in that list!  Well, now that i think about it, he ties with Jimmy and Carson…sorry, i got a little carried away there for a second.

So, because of that dumb decision, NBC now has to make space for his show, which means dropping good (no, GREAT) shows like My Name is Earl and Medium.  Lissette and I watch both of those regularly and NBC.  I guess i can’t be surprised…this is the same network that thought “KATH & KIM” was good enough to put on the same night as 3 of the best shows of all time (30 rock, The Office and, yes, Earl)…KATH & KIM doesn’t deserve to be in the same breath as those 3, let alone the same night…

Apparently, CBS (thank you “Amazing Race”, “How I Met Your Mother” Network) is looking to pick Medium up and put it with Ghost Whisperer – a show i think is a waste of an hour, but I'll take it over losing the show completely!  Read about it here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/05/cbs-tv-studios-to-nbc-cancellation-of-medium-is-inexplicable.html

Found Memory #4: Jeepney’s RULE!

So, i was going to add this to the Philippines post below that i just uploaded, but wanted it in its own “found memory” post…Driving around here always brings back memories from past trips, but one Philippine icon brings back a great little memory of Lissette and I…

My first trip to the Philippines was in 1995.  I had just met my beautiful love and we were just barely falling in love…we had only known each other for a few weeks, but it seemed like much longer since we saw each other every day and spent many nights on the phone talking when we were apart.  So, when I was getting ready to head home to take a semester of school I told her i wanted to go somewhere fun before I left.  I suggested Thailand, since I hadn’t been there and she said, “how about the Philippines”?  I really didn’t care, because all i really wanted was to go ANYWHERE with this girl – freak, i would have taken a trip to a Turkish Prison, as long as we could be  could be alone somewhere…

So, we decided to spend 2 weeks in Boracay on this amazing little island that takes (from Korea) 2 plane trips, a 3 hour bus trip and an hour boat ride.  It might be a little less of a boat ride, i can’t quite remember, but i do remember it took a full day to get there from Korea and i was amazed at how long it took!

The island was amazing and we had an incredible time there.  We really fell completely and madly in love over those 2 weeks and i know if we hadn’t of gone and spent that time we most likely wouldn’t have been married, or at least not as soon as we were (5 months later)…We even ended up going back there for our honeymoon, but this post isn’t about that – it is about the transportation to the island…

When we flew into the first airport in Manila, we knew we couldn’t take a shuttle from the airport to the other domestic airport because we were told it was too expensive.  So, by walking from inside the airport (shuttle: $40 dollars) to the outside (people asking if we wanted a ride to the other airport for $25) we already saved $15 bucks – we felt pretty good about ourselves at that point…but, we knew we wanted to take a taxi and have them use the meter.  That way the driver would be honest (boy, were we naive).  I’ve been here a ton since that first trip and have taken taxis in Manila several times and it is ALWAYS a nightmare – i’ve never had an honest taxi driver and almost got into a fistfight with one after he tried to rip us off on our honeymoon – but again, that is a different post.

At this point, we didn’t know how bad the taxi drivers were.  So, we got in the back of this taxi and asked the guy to use the meter.  He said, “yes yes, get in get in”…so we did and he started driving.  He didn’t start the meter and both of us are like, “hey, meter – yo, meter” and finally while driving he handed us a thick binder with all of these numbers on it.  I didn’t understand what it was and asked him and he said, “price sheet.”  Lissette yelled, “STOP THE CAR” and he was right in the middle of the road and he stopped and we got out in the middle of traffic. 

We were pretty upset at him and tried looking for another taxi, when we saw these vehicles driving all around with writing on the sides.  We tried to read what was written and lissette found one that showed “Dom. Airport” on it, so we ran after it and once it stopped we jumped in the back.  We asked a lady how much it was and she said, “5 pesos” – which at the time was about 2 and 1/2 cents!!!  WE WERE DYING…ever since then I have LOVED Jeepney’s because they are very cool (covered in tons of crazy junk and writing) and cheap cheap cheap!!!  Plus, kicking it with the locals is great as well…

Here is a picture of a couple of Jeepneys from yesterday when El and I went to the Shawarma shop (see previous post “geek heaven”).  These are REALLY plain looking ones compared to most…you just jump in back and pass the money through the window between the back and cab and then jump out at your stop.

Here is another picture of us driving next to one and you can see the writing on the side (the route it is taking)…you can also see the line of them in the right hand lane – as far as you can see forward they are jeepneys…

 

 

This is what i mean by “covered in tons of crazy junk and writing” – love the BENZ symbol!

My Phil’s Trip – geek heaven!

WOW, 2 posts in less than 5 months – i must have lost my mind…i promise this one will have pictures for all of your wordphobic people that think i say to much and show too little (you know who you are my love :-)

So, I have a lot of different jobs and responsibilities at work, but i have to say that one of my absolute favorite responsibilities are my trips to the Philippines.  I’ve been coming here for the past 8 years, sometimes twice a year, and I LOVE IT…i LOVE flying, i LOVE airports (i know i’m crazy), I LOVE THE FACTORY AND EVERYONE HERE…If i didn’t miss my family SO MUCH, especially my love lissette, i’d want to stay here a month or more!  I love these trips that much!!!

The Philippines is always so consistent…it is always hot and humid…the people are always nice and happy, smiling and laughing constantly…the factory is a BUZZ with workers and watching our hard work at home turn into uniforms is the best…

I didn’t take a ton of pictures this time because my phone died and i didn’t have a charger for a while, but i did get a picture of two of my favorite things…

FAVORITE THING #1:  I like to plan my 2 week trips around a holiday, so i can spend the first week (while the workers are gone) holed up in my “cave” of a room surrounded by 5 computers at a time that i am cleaning up, formatting, updating, fixing, etc…i’ll finish one – take it downstairs – grab another and bring it upstairs to keep at it…I will work for hours and hours, not really knowing the time of day since i’m in the middle of the factory with no outside light coming in and i basically work until i collapse from exhaustion…i’ll catch about 3 – 4 hours of sleep – get up and do it again until i collapse…all of the time i have the music cranked and the computers a hummin and i’m in “geek heaven”…

I get a ton done while they are gone, so when they get back i can set it all up and then spend my second week making sure they are right, fixing others that I didn’t finish up during the first week, and working with them on things like Inventory, website, reports, etc…

This is when I first arrived and started setting things up

Here is a shot just before my camera died.  I only have 3 computers setup in this view so far, but you can see how i’m doing it…under the monitor is a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch…this allows me to just use a single Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse for all of the systems and when I want to switch to a different one it is just a matter of pushing a button.  This makes things VERY efficient and takes up a ton less space (not having 5 monitors, keyboard and mice is nice!)

You will also notice the bottle of coke…they buy me a case when i first get here and because i’m working 20 + hour days it is a requirement to have the fridge fully stocked :-)

This trip I’ve spent a lot of time this time working on the Embroidery computers.  They bought a new 20 head embroidery machine and needed their Embroidery computer cleaned up and a 2nd one setup for that room so they could work faster.  This took quite a while for me since i ran into some issues, but I have it working well and am glad my work here translates into making them more productive and having things go faster (which means we can make more product, which equals more money – economics 101 anyone???)

Here is the new 20 head embroidery machine. 

 

They are building a room to put this and the other 2 machines in (top of the picture in the back corner).

This is the current embroidery room.  On the left is the 6 head and on the right is the 4 head.  In the middle are a bunch of hilarious embroiderers… 

 

Here is a picture taken, believe it or not, out the window of my room right above my bed.  They are moving the cutters upstairs to make room for the embroidery area they are building, so i wake up each morning to them moving tables, inventory, etc. upstairs. 

FAVORITE THING #2:

The first week that i’m here i’m all alone at the factory, which i love, but since I don’t like to leave the cave while i have all of these prime hours to work uninterupted, i don’t get out much.  I do have a car and can go out to eat wherever i want, but i really like being holed up in the cave with the music cranked and the computers a hummin’…

So, when people return I love going out to see the outside world in the form of lunch!  I really don’t like how far we have to go to find anything decent, but i love going with people to lunch.  This trip I was lucky enough to go with several different people over the week (ron, el and kuya)…hanging out with them and talking about their lives and my life is the best…then coming back to the office and hearing them laugh and seeing them smile (especially if i bring all of them doughnuts) rocks…

So, one of my FAVORITE places here is a little shop that is next door to our old factory.  Our factory used to be located on Fields Ave (famous street in the Philippines where all of the “working girls” are and there are tons of Go Go clubs all up and down the street.  You can see these perv old men walking hand in hand with these young girls all over the place….yuck!) – So, we were right in the middle of that, and there was this little shop right next door to our old factory that sold Shawarma’s.  I’ve had Shawarma’s from various places and cultures, but these are by far my favorite.  We went there yesterday and I ordered 4 (which is a ton and I had to give one to El because I couldn’t finish them all, but i usually only get back to eat there once while i’m here and I want to make sure i get my fill.)  I love the owner because he always remembers me (even when I forget his name)…

Ah, Shawarma’s…you can see they only cost about a dollar (55 peso’s) and it is worth every penny!!!

Here I am with Mr. Shawarma himself (Jun is his name)…he is great…i have no idea how he works in the heat, standing right in front of those 2 fires behind the meat!!!  I was there for only about 30 seconds waiting for El to take this picture and I think i have 3rd degree burns from the experience…

 

Here I am showing off my finished plate…do i look STUFFED???  Trust me, I AM!!!

Found Memory #3: dumping a girl

So, you know how 16 is an awkward age for pretty much anyone? Well, i had a pretty embarrassing experience trying to impress a girl that i just remembered.

When I turned 14 (in 1982), I attended EFY and loved it...i went back when i was 15 and again, had an excellent time. Well, when I turned 16 i decided to go to “Singing Entertainer” which was also at BYU, but was a week long “workshop” with BYU’s Young Ambassadors.  Yeah, i spent my summers during my 16th and 17th years singing show tunes at BYU, what’s it too ya?  :-)

So, i LOVED this as well and one of the reasons i probably liked it more than EFY had everything to do with the fact that there were only about 100 kids (EFY had several hundred, if not 1,000’s – I'm guessing about that number and could be way off, but hey, i was 14 – a crowed of 20 looked like a multitude to me back then)…

So, only 100 kids…oh, did i mention 95 of them were girls?  And the other 4 boys had NO CHANCE…seriously, who would want the other 4 – they sang show tunes during their summers…

Yeah, so i loved Singing Entertainer.  We practiced dancing, sang songs and hung out together.  Well, there was this one girl…sigh…ok, i can’t for the life of me remember her name, but she sang a solo during the week (that ended in a concert for our families) – it was “I got no strings” from Pinocchio and i thought she sounded really really good (plus, she was hekka cute – how’s that for Utah slang)…

Well, i tried to spark up something with her and it seemed to be going OK, but i couldn’t tell if she liked me or not…until one night.  We were hanging out with a few of the other kids, you know – singing around a piano (what’s it too ya???) and we all decided to go across campus and get a drink from the dorms…we went outside and she jumped on my back so i could give her a piggyback across the parking lot…i started forward, excited she was showing me this kind of attention because that meant I WAS IN BABY…and then i stepped off the curb…

At which point i pitched forward, dumping her on the asphalt, causing her to skin her hands pretty bad.  Well, lets just say she wasn’t too happy with me and her attentions were directed elsewhere for the remainder of the week.

me so lame

So, i have yet to post an update to our trip...several of you (laura!) have pointed this out - i know - i know...i will get my pics organzied and up soon, i hope - but can't promise...

In the meantime, enjoy a couple of new quotes from my kids...man, they are classic...

Big 4.0 v 1

Well, we are on a bus heading for Stratford-Upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace) and it has already been quite the crazy adventure.  Our original plan was to land at Gatwick airport and head right up to Stratford, but while at the airport in Atlanta Lissette went to take a picture of something cool at the airport using our brand new Nikon D90 camera (woo hoo!) and it wouldn't turn on.  After some detective work we realized there wasn't a battery in it.  I'd put it on the charger the night before and it didn't get packed.

So, I sat down at the airport and looked online for a Nikon camera shop in London.  I found one that seemed like it would work, so we made note of the address and boarded the plane.

I normally LOVE flying and stock up on books, music, laptop and magazines - not to mention munchies and soda.  But, for the flight to London I was exhausted because i'd been up until 4:00 am Thursday and Friday night and Saturday night before our flight i didn't go to bed at all, but stayed at the office all night working.  Needless to say, i was beat!  The first leg, from SLC to Atlanta was fully booked and Lissette and I didn't get to sit together.  I took 14th, 3rd and then 1st place in the in-flight trivia game against other people on the plane before going into retirement :-)  Then the lady next to me spilled her water all over her and me (mostly soaking my butt)...thankfully it was just water.

So, the flight to London I was absolutely hammered, but wanted to watch Arrested Development with Lissette.  I brought season 2 with us, but couldn't make it through very many episodes (i kept nodding off), so i tried to sleep in the seats and it was the worst!  So, i laid on the floor and slept quite fitfully, dreaming people were just about to step on my feet, or worse, my head.

The original plan, as I said, was to just go to Stratford from the airport.  But because we had to buy a new battery and charger we needed to go into London.  So, we bought train tickets for the trip (80 bucks!) an umbrella since it was pouring (26 bucks!), stored our luggage at the train station (40 bucks!)  and then took a taxi to the shop (10 bucks, but the highlight of the day...they are so cool inside and why the rest of the "civilized" world hasn't caught on to having a ton of room inside a taxi is beyond me)...then we bought the battery (100 bucks!) and a charger (60 bucks!) and realized we had to wait until 6:30 for our Stratford bus, basically spending the whole day and 316 bucks!  We shan't forget our charger again, I'm sure of that!

We went to an excellent little Cafe and got the best Hot Chocolate I've ever had and some Tiramisu (that was pretty bad) and a little caramel cookie. I was still exhausted, having only slept on and off for a couple of hours, so we moved from our table to a leather couch and i laid back to rest.  I was OUT - sleeping for about an hour while Lissette read her new birthday book from Troy and Daph (The Poisonwood Bible)...so far she is loving it.  We then went to buy tickets to Paris for Wednesday on the Chunnel (train that goes under the English Channel.)

We had to RUN for our bus with all of our luggage since it took longer than expected to get the tickets in another part of town.  We are now on the bus and Lissette is out cold next to me and i'm still pretty beat!  But, we are so excited to be here.  We REALLY  miss our children though and I can't wait to send them an e-mail when we get there (if they have, as Lissette call's it "Wii-Fee" :-)  So cute!

I'm SO excited to be here, even after the detour and not having showered for over 30 hours...man, i stink!  But, this is going to be such an amazing trip - no matter what happens.

To explain the title and for those of you that don't know what we are doing here - Lissette and I are going to London and Paris for my 40th birthday present.  I love being married to Lissette and the fact that I met her while traveling through Asia was the perfect way to meet.  We both have such a love of travel (or as Tristan calls it, "field trips") and will save whatever money we can to take trips (but most of the time it fills up our credit cards).  We love traveling with our children, but there is something about going just the two of us that really "cleanses" ourselves.  I love the fact that our hobby is traveling and, although there are many less expensive hobbies to be sure, nothing brings more joy into our lives then visiting this amazing world God has created for us.  We are so blessed in our life with our family, health and job.  To be able to travel to the places we go is such an incredible blessing in and of itself, that I look at a day like today, where things didn't go anywhere near as planned, and think - who cares, I'm having a blast!  Every second is an adventure.  We have several things planned for the next two weeks and can't wait to see what going from point A to point B brings.  It isn't always the destination (a play, for example) that is the most memorable time of the day - but it might be getting lost along the way that could change you, your life and your thoughts as you look at the world - and that's the beauty of traveling.  That is why we weren't upset at having to detour through London - we were on an adventure, no matter where it took us.

Here is a shot Lissette took of the Hot Chocolate...i could go for some right now -i'm so hungry and should be sleeping right now!

 

Here is a shot looking out the Cafe window.  One Londoner apologized for the weather being so bad (isn't London historically known for being cold, wet and foggy? :-)   I told her I grew up in a state that rained a lot (Oregon) and I loved the weather.  She looked at me like I was a bit cracked...

Love of music / Love of Sigur Ros

Not sure if I've mentioned this in a previous post, but I LOVE MUSIC!  I can remember, as a child, running home from elementary school to listen to music, going to my room after dinner to listen to music and listening to music to go to sleep.  Going to sleep to music wasn't easy in the 70's, since I didn't have an iPod clock radio (like I do now).  So, i started with a black portable radio/tape player with one speaker and i would put it under my pillow at night to sleep to.  This was a bit difficult, because it wasn't small, so my head was at an angle - but i was in music heaven!  I eventually took it apart and rigged it so i could wire the speaker into a large home stereo speaker i got from somewhere and it would sound pretty good cranked up!  I spent many a night listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Aerosmith, etc...i was in elementary school, so this was the mid 70's...

Well, as i grew up I also found more and more bands I loved.  I would call the local radio station every day and request songs and then listen to the radio for hours hoping they would play what I requested.  They rarely did, because even then I had a little bit of a different taste in music and I loved what wasn't always mainstream.  I should post a "Found Memory" about the time I took the Pink Floyd 7" single "Another Brick in the Wall" to my 5th grade choir class in '79.  I asked the teacher to play the flip-side ("One of My Turns") instead of the A side which was on the radio every hour of every day.  It was music sharing day and everyone had brought something to play.  The class knew I brought Pink Floyd and were pretty upset I didn't want her to play the song on the radio, but I wanted to play the other side.  I remember thinking, "this is such a good song - they should all hear it".  Well, after about 30 seconds they started complaining and I finally lost hope of turning them on to anything and told the teacher to flip it over, mumbling to myself only loud enough for the teacher to hear, "let them hear the same song they've heard 100 times".

When I was about 12 I asked my brother Price if I could go with him to a youth church dance.  He DJ'd them and I wanted to help.  He let me come and I helped him carry things and setup (as much as a 12 year old could).  I was completely and totally hypnotized watching him play songs and seeing people dance to what he chose.  Watching, I knew that is what I wanted to do when I got older.  Price (being the cool brother that he is) asked me if i wanted to play the last song so he could go out and dance.  This meant I would be doing a "segue" which is tying 2 songs together without a break.  I was so nervous, but because i'd watched him all night I knew I could do it.  I remember my palms were all sweaty as i put the needle on the other album and held it - waiting for the end of the first one.  I let the 2nd one go, slid the volume from one to the other and it was perfect!  I was so excited i hadn't messed up and when I looked up and saw Price watching me he was smiling and gave me the thumbs up.  Like I said - I was hooked.

When I was 15 I was approached by a mobile DJ company to join them as one of their 2 DJ's.  It was the beginning of my DJ "career" which spanned 3 states, 2 Radio Stations, countless clubs, weddings, parties and 10 years of my life.  I loved almost all of it (except for having to play what other people wanted at dances - I still hadn't changed from being a child in choir class).  I was a Program Director for 2 different radio stations (one of them, KUNV, was the #1 College Radio station in the country while I was there as the Assistant Music Director).

So, flash forward to now (trust me - i could go on and on) and to what I experienced last weekend.  Lissette and I went to see one of the best concerts i've seen in my life.  I've never counted how many concerts I've seen, but I'd have to say I've seen several hundred bands live.  I also had the privilege of interviewing many of them on the radio as well as for local entertainment magazines, introducing them onstage before shows, partying with them, etc.

So, what made this concert so amazing?  First off, it is a band I have such a deep love for it is almost on a different plane then the other music I listen to.  They are called Sigur Ros.  Their music is completely indescribable (trust me, I tried to explain their sound to Dusty the other day and failed miserably.  I made them sound like a heavenly choir with guitars - which they aren't :-).  Their music is lifting, moving, powerful.  They are from Iceland and the lead singer sings mostly in falsetto.  Words do not do them justice.  I've loved this band for many years and have always dreamed of seeing them live.  We even planned a cruise to Iceland for our 10 year wedding anniversary 2 years ago, so we could see them, but ended up changing it to a Scandinavian Cruise when we couldn't find a good route to Reykjavik.  But each time they toured near me it didn't "line up" with when I was in town.  Well, this time it did...all i can say is - WOW!

The show was at a very cool venue called Saltair which has quite the history (built in 1893, destroyed by fire twice, etc.) and well worth the read...here is a pic of the "3rd" version of the place.

The Saltair - the venue for the Sigur Ros show

It was a great place to see the show and out in the middle of nowhere.  We wanted to arrive early cause I really wanted to either be right up front or in a place to see the band really well.  I'd never seen a show in this venue, so i didn't know what the place would be like.

Our great friend Jackie was good enough to watch our kids so we could go and we headed up to the place, but because we also wanted to eat somewhere nice without the kids (Cheesecake Factory - yummmm) and with driving, etc. we didn't get there as early as i would have liked.  We were still early, but there were already a couple hundred people when we arrived.  Right as we walked in we realized we wouldn't be very close to the stage and started looking around for a place to see them well.  We noticed some box area's upstairs to the left of the stage that looked empty, so we went to the stairs and met the "bouncer" guy.  He said they were the VIP boxes and they normally went for $300+ a concert, but since they didn't sell out for this show he'd let us go up for $25 each.  We jumped on it (since the show was only $25 to begin with and this is one of our favorite bands - $50 for a show seemed just fine to us) and we went up to look at the room.  There wasn't anyone in the box and one corner had a perfect view of the stage.  The guy said there was someone that paid in full for the box, but that he didn't want to be in there with his girlfriend all alone and to get more people in there that would enjoy it.  So, we had our good seating and were ready.

The opening band was Parachutes, whom i LOVE and they are also from Iceland.  They sound VERY similar to Sigur Ros and there were 7 of them on stage making very cool music.  Some of them looked very very young.  Lissette pointed out that none of them were wearing shoes :-)

After they left the stage we got a call from our friend Wayne and Lissette went out to the hall to talk to him.  She looked out the window over the parking lot while talking to him and saw 3 members of Parachutes riding these cool looking, funky bikes around the parking lot - FUN!

Eventually Sigur Ros came on stage.  The show was incredible.  Our view was excellent and the music was overwhelming.  I texted my brother Eric (which i do from any concert i'm at) and told him i was in music heaven.  He told me he'd seen them the night before at Red Rocks in Colorado and that I would be blown away by the last song.  I thought he meant the last song where Parachutes joined them on stage all beating drums for a rendition of "Gobbledigook" - which was AMAZING...but, he said, "no - after the encore - you will be blown away"...

So, after they left the stage for about 3 minutes they came back and played 2 more songs...the last song was about 15 minutes and was extremely hypnotic, powerful, overwhelming and left me completely speechless...I can't describe it very well...if you know their music, you have some idea - but I know their music and I still wasn't prepared for how amazing it was...

After they left the stage it was still deafening from everyone screaming and cheering.  The band came out and did something I've never seen from my 100's of shows.  They lined up at the edge of the stage and waved at all of us, mouthing "thank you" and they looked genuinely touched.  Then they locked arms, bowed, and waved some more (even waved at me up high in my perch)...they eventually left and that was the show.

Here are a few pics from my crappy phone...below those I've also posted a few songs for you to get a feel for what their music is like.  Feel free to listen to it, love it.

Opening band Parachutes - a little blurry, but you get the idea...

Even though my camera on my phone SUCKS, this one turned out really cool in an "artistic" sort of way.  The lead singer Jónsi (bent over in the middle) played his guitar with a bow-string for much of the show.  The drummer (Ágúst) was wearing a crown.

Here is another shot.  I didn't alter either of these in Photoshop or anything like that.  I believe the color difference had to do with the lighting.  Both are very cool i think.  You can see the stage is COVERED with confetti.  This song was the final song of the night, but during the final song of the main set they had the girl members of Parachutes shooting confetti cannons into the crowd and tons of it was blowing out from the sides and dropping from the ceiling.  people were COVERED by it.

Here is a shot of the confetti dropping from the ceiling, being shot out by the band and other cannons.  You can't even see the band or crowd through it.

Here is another pic from earlier in the show when it just dropped from the ceiling.  Not nearly as much as they shot out later, but people were going pretty crazy.  This is from a different angle in the box we were in, so you can see the massive speakers in the way.

Here is another shot of the band where you can see the front of the crowd as well as some people up in the other balcony.  That side was the "bar" side and was already packed when we got there.

Here is a shot of the crowd.  It took several tries to get this because the lights were flashing and I had to get it timed perfectly.  This is only about 1/2 of the people that were there...

 

Here are some MP3's of the band.  If you love, buy an album...if you don't, delete them from your computer...you just gotta crank them up and enjoy them...this is my way of playing "DJ" from my chair and trying to get some of that feeling back when I couldn't turn my 5th grade class onto the B-Side of a Pink Floyd 7"...

SONG	ALBUM
Gobbledigook.mp3	Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Glósóli.mp3	Takk...
Við spilum endalaust.mp3	Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
Sæglópur.mp3	Takk...
Svefn-g-englar.mp3	Ágætis Byrjun
Popplagið.mp3	( )

Running @ 1/4 power

My desktop died last week!  It has taken me a while to get it going again, and I'm just working on my little ol' laptop and after having a desktop connected to 4 (!) monitors i feel like I'm running at 1/4 speed!  Here are "before and after" pics of what I'm used to and what I'm using now...

Here is what I'm used to using - 4 monitors on one computer

Here is what I've been using - one monitor on my laptop...ah, poor me :-)

I get my system back on Wednesday, so I'll be back to full speed by weeks end...

Quote Props to Jackie!

I just wanted to give "props" to Jackie for giving me the idea of putting quotes on the right hand side of my blog. Her quotes are the best! And because i love Jackie, i want to be just like her :-)

Hence, my cool quotes!

Found Memory #2

Incase you don't know what Found Memory is, please see my previous post (Found Memory #1).  I will eventually move these to a site I'm setting up called, "FoundMemory.Com" - so everyone can post to it, but in the meantime - here is my next Found Memory:

Found Memory #2: Leathernose...

We  moved to  Oregon from  California  when I was 8. Each year we would drive back to California to visit my grandparents and while visiting we would go to their church. There was a girl at their church that I had a little crush on and for some reason could never bring myself to talk to her. I just admired her from afar.

When I turned 14 my friend Jeff Bennett invited me to spend a week with him and his parents in Hawaii. I spent every waking minute outside in the sun, so when I got back I was very tan.

Right after I returned from Hawaii we went to California to visit my Grandparents and I decided on the drive down that I was going to finally talk to that girl. I felt older and more mature, having been to Hawaii without my family, and knew I was ready. So, we got to church and the first part of church is Sacrament, which lasts an hour, and then Sunday School. I was waiting for Sunday School because we would both be in the same class. 

During Sacrament I could see her a few pews in front of me and I started getting nervous.  She really was very cute.  About 15 minutes before the end of Sacrament I went to the bathroom.  When I walked in and looked at myself in the mirror I knew I couldn't talk to her that day.

While I was waiting for Sacrament to be over I must have been picking the dead skin off my nose.  In the bathroom I noticed what looked like a lepers nose on my face.  I had peeled off huge chunks of very thick dead skin and underneath it was very soft, red and shiny.  The parts I hadn't peeled off yet were really dark brown and leathery looking.  I tried to peel off the rest of it, but some of it wasn't ready to be peeled off and parts started to bleed.  I stopped trying, put tissue on my nose to quell the bleeding and figured it was hopeless.

I walked out of the bathroom just after Sacrament finished and walked right into her!  She was coming out of the chapel right when I turned the corner.  She just smiled at me, said "hi" and went around me.

I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything back, I was in such a state of shock as she walked away.  I never did talk to her that day and I never saw her again.

Found Memory #1

I was thinking today about how my life (like I'm sure most of everyone's) is filled with "found memories"...those times when we had something good, bad, crazy happen and then we forgot about them until later in life...or, cool stories we haven't really told everyone...or not cool, but interesting.  You get the idea.

So, I've decided to throw in a little bit of a regular posting.  I shall call it "Found Memories" and add a numerical value to it making it that much more official.  Ah, what fun we shall have...in fact, i like the name so much i just registered foundMemory.com so i could use it in the future as its own website playground of Found Memories (hmmm, maybe i should register foundMemories.com as well?)...wow, first post and i've already gone overboard - that isn't like me at all!

So, here it is...

FOUND MEMORY #1: Supermarket BAM!

I'm  about  5 years old  and playing  "tag" in the super-market with Scottie.  My mom watches Scottie during the day and he and I find ourselves getting into trouble quite a bit.  So, we are playing a combination of "tag" and "hide and seek" all over the store while my mom shopped.  I was in isle 4a (I'm making that part up, but it will help progress the story if I have an isle number) and I had just tagged Scotty next to the spaghetti sauce.  I remember laughing and RUNNING away from him up the isle towards the milk and then turning the corner and heading down isle 5a.  I was looking behind me the whole time for him trying not to get touched and just as I turned around to see where i was going...

BAM

I ran full force into a shopping cart coming the other way, which laid me out flat.  The next thing I remember was being in the car with someone holding a towel over my forehead going to the hospital.  I don't think I blacked out or anything, but I don't remember my mom getting a towel from the manager, blood on the isle or getting into the car or any of that.

So, 5 stitches later I was back home playing with Scottie and all was well.

Oh, and the lady pushing the cart that knocked me flat and split open my forehead creating a scar still visible to this day?  That was none other than my mom.  Small world.

FINALLY...MY SHAKESPEAREAN POST ARRIVETH!

So, i find myself doing exactly what I told myself not to do...don't let yourself make excuses for not having time to post!  I've probably been more busy at work during this time of my Pro Look career than at any time before...there are several reasons for this which I wont bore you with the details, but needless to say if I'm not here at the office working late I'm at home working or trying to be a good husband/father and couch potato...the couch usually doesn't get me until late which means I'm watching something late which means I'm going to bed late which means I'm tired when I come in and start the process all over again!

SO, I saw that my last post was before our Shakespeare trip and realized I have the pictures here and throwing them up with some witty prose shouldn't take any time at all!  Alas, my witty prose isn't quite witty enough for me, but I must move on!

So, our trip...we had such high expectations of this trip.  Lissette and I have been going to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City for nigh unto a quarter score of years and have always looked forward to it.  We did take the kids once about 3 years ago and it wasn't bad, but we do like when it is just us two (Bed and Breakfast and all)...

Well, this year we are going to London and France for my 40th birthday in November, and felt that we should take the kids to the festival since we weren't going to Mazatlan this year and haven't had a trip with them other than Colorado.

We bought our tickets last year for this years plays (you get better seats that way :-) and we had 3 plays lined up.  "Fiddler on the Roof", "Othello" and "The School for Wives".  We talked about it and thought it would be fun to have me take Paris to Fiddler (Tristan was too young) and Lissette would stay with the other two that night.

So, it started out that way.  I took Paris to Fiddler and we had the perfect night.  Paris was SO CUTE and was so excited to go.  I had bought her the music for her iPod before the play and told her to "memorize" the songs.  I am a FIRM believer that if you know the music in a play/concert it will be 500 times better.  Well, she took it literally and listened to the songs almost every waking minute before the play.  Her, Tristan and Esher all sang the songs together on the way down to Cedar.

We got to the theater and I walked her to our seats.  She was SO EXCITED that we were front row in the center.  The seats were amazing and when it started I kept sneaking glances at her.  She was so focused on what was going on and then during the songs she was singing along!  At one point during Matchmaker she turned to me and said, "Dad, she sang that part backwards.  It is supposed to be 'no dowry, no money, no family background' and she sang 'no money, no dowry, no family background' which is backwards."  After giggling at her enthusiasm (and trying to shush her for "whispering" so loud), she put her head on my shoulder and said, "Dad, I don't want this to end.  I'm having too much fun."  I felt EXACTLY the same way.

Here we are before leaving.   I am a very lucky father!

To top it off, the play was INCREDIBLE!  I can't say enough about that production.  Acting: Superb. Direction: Superb. Set: Superb.  It was easily one of the best plays I've ever seen (not just at the festival, but of any stage production.)  It doesn't hurt that song for song it has the BEST music of any musical I can think of.  Every single song is perfect.

It really was the perfect evening.  But, that is where the "perfect" left our trip unfortunately.  When I got back to the room it was quite late and we went to bed shortly after that.  When we woke up Tristan had a fever and was nauseous. So, we decided to trade in the "Othello" tickets the next day and Lissette would take Paris to see "School for Wives" that night, while I stayed with the kids.  Well, Paris ended up being a TOTAL BUGGER that whole day.  She was acting very selfish, whiny and ungrateful after having such a wonderful night with me the night before and a potential wonderful night with her mom ahead of her.  So, I took back the other tickets and traded them in for next year and Lissette stayed "home" with us.

Did I mention "home" was the worst hotel I've stayed at since my honeymoon?  Our honeymoon hotel had a shattered door frame (from what looked like intruders kicking at the deadbolt) and blood stains on the frame and carpet, so it would be hard to be worse than that place.  But, this place took second for sure.  They had a "pool", so the next day when Tristan's fever was under Advil control, we went swimming.  After about 10 minutes all of our eyes were burning and it was very hard to breath.  It was a horrible mixture of water/chlorine.  Then the sun block Lissette brought but had never used caused a skin irritation of rash/itching to us.  Lissette, sadly, got it the worse on her face.

Then, to finish our "perfect" trip Esher caught the Tristan bug and threw up in our new car on the way home.  Poor guy threw up 5 times on the way home and once he didn't hit the bag but spewed on the seat.

We did take pictures of the fun times though just so when we get old and our memory goes we can look back and truly believe it was the perfect trip :-)

 

If you have ever lived in Cedar, you will appreciate this picture.  If you haven't, let me assure you those that have will be drooling right about now.  Best sandwich this side of the Sandwich Islands (of course I'm talking about the Crews Creation).  It also has the BEST Vanilla Dr. Pepper this side of Dublin, Texas.  The place is called Top Spot and I ate there 4 times in 3 days.

 

Besides good sandwiches and vanilla Dr. Pepper, i was able to teach my kids the fine art of "big" video games (not XBox, Wii type of games, but the actual large console).  I LOVE Tristan face in this picture.  By the look of her face apparently I'm "kicking ass" :-).

The kids decided that the "Candy Claw" machine was more their speed.  I didn't mind them playing it because it kept grabbing at candy and dropping until you got something (unlike the "other" claw machine that is evil...see previous post.)

 

Tristan was so cute...she is collecting these little tiny "monkeys" and wanted to buy so many of them.  When she was sick i bought her a few so she could try and complete her collection.  She kept getting the same ones over and over again, but was still all smiles.

Here are Tristan and Esher playing Candyland with mommy while Daddy and Paris were at the play.  Esher picked up the best card in the pile his first card and ended up winning after 2 more moves.  I'm taking this kid to Vegas!

 

Even though we canceled the other two plays, we still took them to the Green Show which was a fun performance before each play.

Here is one of the "wenches" before the show.  She was walking around, speaking in this terribly fake English accent and trying to sell candies.  She really was quite outgoing and I appreciated that she wasn't afraid to yell out at people.  We bought suckers for the kids and laughed at her mildly funny jokes :-)

Our really good friends Brent and Tammy Christensen just happened to be there that weekend as well, so we turned them on to Top Spot and hung with them at the Green Show.

Another Green Show group pic so Tammy can save them both after reading this.

After the Green Show we kicked it on the lawn and played Sorry.  Tristan didn't play because she wasn't feeling well and eventually fell asleep on my shoulder.  I love carrying that girl (not just because she is SO LITE but because she knows how to snuggle up against my neck.)

On our way back to the cars the kids climbed up this little entrance way to one of the buildings.  I love that they love to climb.  My mom, on that other hand, would be DYING right about now.

Speaking of climbing :-)  The last day we took a drive up to Cedar Breaks.  Even though Tristan wasn't quite done being sick, Esher was starting his illness and Paris was still being a MAJOR BUGGER, I didn't want it to ruin the whole trip :-)  So, here is a shot of the girls on the sign.

 

Across the road from the sign was this AMAZING field of flowers.  Lissette wanted to get a pic and here you go.

And another...

And one of the whole Fam Damnly (as my dad says)

And one of our little "flower girl" after Lissette adorned her head with some of them.  This picture is SO STINKING CUTE.  That girl is absolutely gorgeous and totally photogenic.  Yes, I am bias - sue me!  I must not be alone because everybody that walked past her with the flowers in her hair kept stopping, telling her how cute she was and giggling with her.

Here we are at the canyon.   All the way up to the canyon I kept telling the kids how amazing and fun it was.  Cedar Breaks is pretty overwhelming. But, that didn't stop Tristan from asking, "is this it?  is this the fun?"  Esher had to parrot her like he is want to do.

A shot of the canyon.  Hard to tell how deep it is from here but take my word for it - it is deeeep.

one more shot of the canyon.  I was going to put a picture of Esher's pile of puke which was 10 feet from where I'm standing, but decided you didn't need that visual and this was much more apropos.