Good weekend

This weekend has been great! The Larson's came up and we went to Beaver Mountain for a half-day of skiing. I loved it. I wish I could ski more than just the once a year outing with them. I threw in a picture or two of the skiing.

After we went to the Indian Oven. It was good. We all ordered about the same thing. I was shocked that both Weston and Teresa asked for HOT! Wow. Even the owner was a bit surprised. Meg had a close call when she thought she was ordering medium size when actually medium was the temperature. Close call; we all stepped in and prevented that from ending badly.

We went to the Pow Wow this year. Gabrielle really enjoyed watching the dancing. I liked the clothing and flourishes.

To finish off the weekend, Brit and I are catching up on The Voice. I found the coolest Obi-wan Kenobi bumper sticker...

New Orleans

New Orleans has such beautiful architecture. It also has creepy mannequins in bunny costumes.

I was able to visit Bourbon Street. Wow. It's like Las Vegas all concentrated into a few blocks.

Britain and I went to Muriel's in Jackson Square (a famous public square of a Cathedral). It was a very fine dinning experience. I had BBQ shrimp and Brit had Blackened Redfish. Amazing!

We went for beignets at Cafe Du Mond, a New Orleans famous coffee shop. Very good.

I've added photos of much of this and also a Mardi Gras beaded tree. Lots of beads on many of the trees.

Good trip. Nice place.

30 day thing...

So that really failed. I am not a great blogger and I'm okay with that. Ai just published posts from last August that I'd written but not published. I probably should have reviewed them before publishing them to see if there I something that changed... Oh well.

I am enjoying coaching the swim team right now. It may be early but it's fulfilling and what I like to do. Small crew today but this first week back in school has been great attendance overall. Tomorrow we volunteer at the USU Hockey game as staff. We are one of only 3-4 other club sports that are willing to go and support the Hockey Club Sport (yes, hockey is a club sport, not NCAA, each player pays $800 to play, no scholarship, no massive budget or political clout like basketball or football, also we still come in as the 3rd highest attended sport after those two, SO STOP TRYING TO CHEAP OUR AWESOME TEAM OUT BY SNEAKING IN!!!). Okay off my soapbox. The swim team gets a $100 incentive to volunteer. It is an opportunity available to club sports only, something the spectrum and Romney stadium cleaning should consider. Why outsource to every local volunteer group when our own clubs need money?! I'm talking club sports and student clubs alike. Heaven forbid we help our own students. Sorry, soapbox.

A big project in my department is the new student Rec center. We hope to have students vote for the building and the accompanying turf fields end of February. It's an exciting project that I hope goes through. We have years of history behind it like the first time a proposal went through, politics with the upper administration and a member of. The community got the project cancelled around 2000. Not this time. We have loads of support. We have a building that was designed for a campus population of 8000 serving almost double that. We need it!

So this type of blogging suites me better. Just type. I am more likely to blog in this form. Plus I am using the Blogger app and that makes it more convenient to use too.

As always, I love my wife, my daughter, and I am blessed to have them.

Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

I need pictures in this post. I thought of putting emoticons to match the respective emotion. It would have been tedious to get the emoticons because I would be super picky and have to have exatcly matching types and there isn't a simple enough way (meaning in less than 1 minute) to find what I wanted. Therefore, I will post random awesome pictures of nerd t-shirts throughout this post just to have some pictures. If you don't get one, I'd love to help explain so we can have a chuckle together. WARNING: not for the casual nerd, but for real nerds.

Happy:
My "Swim Team" playlist. This is my playlist that I've assembled that is what I view to be most worthwhile to play for a group of people like my swim team. That's what I originally created it for and that's what it's still called. It has various popular music from the recent 3 years, a fair amount of alternative music, and not quite enough classic rock.

Sad:
Emotionally riveting soundtracks. Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo: the Musical, Lion King (broadway), etc. I am really into soundtracks. I have to have seen the movie/play to really enjoy it. Also, Josh Groben would fit this mood.

Bored:
I usually don't listen to music when I'm bored...I think. I suppose I would pick a soundtrack to listen through.

Hyped
Pirates of the Caribbean (any of the first three) and Tron: Legacy are the first soundtracks to come to mind. They I really enjoy those anytime. Also, Eye of the Tiger is the all time classic go to when it comes to hype and pumping up.

Mad
Dark Knight soundtrack. I could see some Linkin Park fulfilling this sometimes too. Dark Knight is, well, dark. While I know most aren't into soundtracks like me, I think many can agree that the music in Dark Knight certainly helped darken the tone of the movie making it a great mad music. Linkin Park has some great screaming if you are angry. It also has some smooth vocals that balance it out for me. I wouldn't listen to something screaming and yelling and hating through the whole thing. I tend to feed of the mood of my music so that would be bad for me

With all of these, I really listen to all of them, all the time. Just cause you hear me listening to Dark Knight doesn't mean I am mad. Same with Finding Nemo: the Musical!, I definitely listen to that just for kicks quite frequently.

Yup, gotta get this one.

LOL...this one too.

Up Next: Day 11 - Another picture of you and your friends

Day 09 - Something you’re proud of in the past few days

I have increased my productivity at work. I am proud of it. I don't think I was being lazy or inefficient before but I've improved. I have been able to focus and accomplish tasks faster than before. All this being said, my workload has more than doubled. I am the Events Coordinator and Systems Administrator for USU Campus Recreation. I schedule all the recreational buildings on campus (HPER, Fieldhouse and, outdoor playing fields, QUAD included). I manage all of the computers in our department. I also manage our recreation management software, "Fusion".

One reason my workload has jumped so quickly is the various parts of Campus Recreation trying to start use it more, all at once. Intramurals, Club Sports, the Hockey team, general facility access, and I am even moving all the event coordination functions to this software. I have to balance preping new hardware, troubleshooting existing hardware, and hardest of all, helping staff use it all.

All in all, I really enjoy my job. It is challenging and fulfilling. My next work-related accomplishment will be better estimating the time it will take to do some of these things. I often have to work outside of business hours when the computers aren't in use. With no one there to distract me, I loose track of time quickly while getting so much done. I will be better.

Up Next: Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Day 08 - Short term goals for this month and why

My short short term goals list:


1. Tighten the finances. This phase in life can be hard financially. Add spouse applying for med school, finances get harder. Add student loans, finances get harder. Add dying car that costs buckets of money to fix, over and over, finances get harder. Pay my tithing, be responsible and smart, not spending frivolously, following a budget, etc., we'll make it through.


2. Finish IT goals at work. Truthfully, most who might read this would be bored to hear the details. I'll be brief by saying, I am adding quite a bit of new hardware and implementing several software solutions. Also I have to train quite a few people on varying levels of understanding. I have lots of work that is easy to get distracted away from and then I can't get everything done. Be like Scottie; Miracle Worker.


3. Be better at home. More patient, more helpful, more sympathetic, etc. I don't think I am in the failing range for any of these but its easy to fall into routine. Routine can often give you the false sense of going nowhere. Realistically, you are always moving in one direction or another or another. I want to be moving forward to become more patient, more helpful, more sympathetic rather than assume that I am a great guy that just does those things great (don't mistake that last phrase, I wasn't claiming I've ever done them great).


Told you that was short. Much longer and I'd forget what my goals were. The first one I'm kinda forced to meet by the fact that I need to be able to pay rent and groceries. The second, I suppose I have to meet because I need to be able to pay rent and groceries. The third, I need to always work on so I can have a wife to pay rent for and bring groceries home to.


Up Next: Day 09 - Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Day 07 - A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Gabrielle and Britain, the loves of my life.

Well no duh. This one wasn't even a challenging question. This part of the 30 day challenge doesn't really elicit any deep meaningful response that is earthshatteringly revealing. Anyone who knows me a little bit knows that Britain is my number one, Gabrielle is my number two, and that I love them both more than anything. That't it. Short post.

Okay really, I can give a few tidbits about their impacts on my life. Britain has balanced me out to be a much better person. More tolerant, more educated, more willing to seek new perspectives. I appreciate her for that. Gabrielle has taken the love that I feel for my wife and added a richness to my love for Britain as well as earning herself a special place in my affections.

There is a transition you go through when you get married. The love you feel, the experience of being married, and the depth of your love are completely foreign and literally impossible to comprehend before marriage. Try as hard as you can to explain it, un-wedded couples try to pretend they know and understand. Get married and you realize how much richness, joy, and excitement is added. Those same couples almost every time say, "Wow! I had no idea!"

Having a child is a similar. Unique and different from marriage, of course. But this is the best comparison I can present. A change that can't be explained until you make the change. A couple will try to convince you that they know how much you can love the child and how it will change your life. But no. Talk to them at the 1 or 2 year birthday and they'll say the same thing, "Wow! I had no idea!" I am guessing (only being weeks past the 2 year mark) that this only compounds itself and in another 2, 5, 10, etc. years, I'll repeat the same phrase over and over.

To end I'd like to share something that bugs me: "I know what its like to have a kid; I have a [insert pet type]!" Oh brother. "I love my babies [referring to pet] just as much as you love your child." How naive to assume that a human can love a pet as much as a human child. I will fully acknowledge the attachment you can feel to a pet. You can really love them too; they can care for you in return. To say that you have deep commitment and experiences as a loving caretaker because you have a pet is either a sign of know-it-all-ness or an expression of insecurities (often both). No dog will compare to a human child. No hamster will ever give you the pure joy of sweet and loving eyes when they first utter the words, "I love you Daddy." Have a kid and see if you still call your fluffy mammals your babies. To close this point on a lighthearted note (kind of), You can't say you love your pet as much as someone loves their child because you don't let someone you really love run around in a car, un-fastened or in some kennel/cage. Until you get a pet restraint device at or on par with the safety of current child restraint devices, you have no way to claim you care more or even equal.

Okay, I have to end differently. I love Gabrielle. I know that every mother and father that reads this post can join with me and know that the most challenging and trying part of your lives is also your source of greatest joy and fulfillment. Go to your child tell them you love them and remember that first smile, that first da da, or ma ma, that first time that little hand held your finger to take a walk down the street. That's love.

Up Next: Day 08 - Short term goals for this month and why