Bryan's Travels

Carnival Splendor Troubles

2010-11-17T14:20:00.003-07:00

This is an article that I read and I wanted to share with everyone everywhere... I was on the Carnival Splendor a year ago, and absolutely loved the service and the overall experience!

Dedication of the Carnival Crew

By Paul Motter

The recent Carnival Splendor crisis showed the larger non-cruising public something we dedicated cruisers already know - that a major reason cruising is so popular is because of the amazing crewmembers.

I was in San Diego to watch and speak to departing Splendor passengers, and everyone said the crew was amazing. I was on the radio on Saturday and asked if I thought this incident would lead to discounts due to slowing demand. We in the industry already know that it won't, but I had to find a logical reason to explain why it won't.

What other tourism business compares to cruising for the quality of personal service? I said "If you heard this incident happened at Disneyland would you say you'd never go to Disneyland again?" Of course not, because everyone knows that Disney is a great vacation experience and such an accident would be a pure anomaly.

That is how the vast majority of cruisers feel about cruising - not only does the cruise industry have an exemplary safety record (which never gets mentioned during media reports of these events) - but cruisers know that ship workers are among the most dedicated in the world and they truly respect that.

We have had rare incidents of fires on ships and ship losing propulsion power. But this is the first time I have ever heard of a ship losing all power to the point where almost nothing onboard was working. But I never heard the media mention that fact.

They were all over the "cruise from hell," angle, as always, and many reporters were even saying "I will never go on a cruise." That kind of reporting is purely coming from a lack of knowledge, and why is it that every time a cruise ship has a crisis the media never call in a cruise industry expert to put the events into perspective?

We cruisers were not at all surprised to hear the Carnival crew did a fantastic job, we already know cruise crewmembers are the best in the world. But while every passenger I heard interviewed cited the crew and ace Carnival Cruise Director John Heald as having done a fantastic job of keeping the guests informed, reassured and even in good humor about the events, the media didn't seem to care about those statements - being far more interested in the "spam" angle.

I watched some of the first person videos people had taken onboard during the blackout, and every time a video camera hit the face of crewmember they smiled and waved. Many of them stopped and talked to the camera, telling us what they were doing, whether it was delivering ice or forming a human chain to get food from the galley up to deck ten where passengers were assembled.

The people who cruise regularly all said they would definitely be taking Carnival up on the free cruise offer they gave every guest as compensation. By the way, Carnival also paid for flights home for everyone, and gave them the option to stay in San Diego for an extra day with a paid hotel room (Hilton) and even meal vouchers.

My interview with first-time cruise Barbara Dillonpierside as she came right off the ship showed that even a first-timer could be so impressed with a crew during a crisis that she said she would definitely cruise again, and she even tipped the room steward. She also mentioned the heroism of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, who contribute to the exemplary record of the cruise industry on almost a daily basis.

As I said on the radio, I didn't hear a single person say "I'll never cruise again." Every experienced cruiser said "this was an accident and this doesn't change my mind about cruising one bit." My interview in CruiseMates with first-time cruiser Barbara Dillon coming right off the ship shows that the crew on Carnival was so good that she will definitely cruise again, many times, even with this "cruise from hell" as her first experience. She even tipped her crewmembers.

This Carnival crew showed what crewmembers are famous for - all the time and under all circumstances - keeping the passengers as happy and comfortable as humanly possible, even under the most challenging and extraordinary circumstances.

Splendor cruise director John Heald has an epic firsthand account of his experience in his personal blog. He mentions a few things he wishes he had done differently. But every officer, staff and crewmember was improvising - there is no handbook on what to do in case of a systemic failure of ship power - it has never happened before.

I just think it is too bad that the courage and commitment of the crew during every "cruise from hell" crisis gets lost in the television media coverage. When Captain Sully landed a jet on the Hudson River the media didn't focus solely on the negative points. They focused on the heroism of Captain Sully and the fact that he was the exception to what commonly happens with airlines -planes crash and everyone dies.

But I have never seen a cruise crisis where the media notes that our modern western cruise industry has a spectacular reputation for safety with no catastrophic loss of life in recent history. The worst ship fire had just one tragic fatality. That is very sad, but an exemplary record compared to every other form of mass transportation; trains, cars and planes, all of which have had horrific accidents.

Discuss the Carnival Splendor crewmembers here: Carnival Splendor Crew

I JUST FINISHED!!!

2009-11-12T21:12:00.005-07:00

I finished (ACED) my last final.
I am officially "smart"

I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!

Did you not hear that? I AM DONE!
WAhoo!

T-Mobile??? LOL

2009-11-03T21:19:00.004-07:00

My favorite Verizon ad:

WANT 100% MORE COVERAGE THAN T-MOBILE?
THERE'S A MAP FOR THAT TOO.

(as of 5:30pm (EST) today
here is the Map for T-Mobile Service, LOL)

HA ha ha, Go T-Mobile! It's a good thing that I am with Verizon!
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/110309-tmobile-outage.html

Go Vikings!

2009-09-25T22:02:00.003-06:00

SMA Walk-n-Roll

2009-08-15T13:38:00.007-06:00

So I have the cutest little niece, Brynlee, but when she was around 6 months old her parents noticed something wrong with her legs. They took her into the doctor, and to make a long story short, they found out that she has SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). SMA is a disease that affects the muscles in her little body, it basically prevents them from working like muscles should work. She was unable to lift her legs, and the one that gets most children under the age of 2 is that she is unable to cough and struggles to breath.

Well, her 2nd birthday (they never said that she would live to the age of 2) is August 29th, and it just so happens that there is a fund raiser on August 29th in Park City; the Utah Chapter of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Walk-n-Roll. The FMSA is inviting friends, family, patients, and anyone else interested to participate in the fund raiser to help find a cure for the number 1 genetic killer in infants.

To register, or even just to donate you can visit: FSMA
If you want to join Team Brynlee on the Walk-n-Roll (she will be rolling along in her new little wheel chair) you can register under my sister-in-law: Tara Liston

Here is the fund raising Biography for Team Brynlee:

See, isn't she the cutest!

Aspen Grove - Timpanogos

2009-08-09T22:09:00.005-06:00

So, today we decided to try to hike the Aspen Grove Timpanonos trail. I was with my mother and step father, who haven't been on the hike for a long time. We ended up starting way late, so we didn't make it to Emerald Lake, but we did have a great hike. It was a beautiful day, and we all had a great time.

There was a lot of water coming down the mountains this year, which made for some great pictures. I didn't take these pictures, but some nice friendly blogger did, so I figured that I would share. This is what we did see though. =0)

There were also many beautiful flowers, but once again I don't have the pictures that I took today, so I may have to post them a little later.

Well I am headed to bed so that I can spend the week getting ready for those crazy teachers to come back into their schools a week for now... ;)

Lake Powell

2009-07-21T22:16:00.006-06:00

Well it was hard, but I had to work almost 2 weeks before going on another trip... I take off Sunday morning to head down to Lake Powell with some family and friends that go down every year. I wasn't able to make it with them last year, and I was devastated, but this year it sounds like it should make up for the lost time. They just bought a new (as in 0 hours) boat that we are taking down, AWESOME!

So my favorite part is the part where phones don't work down at the water level, my computer won't work (well I don't want it to work), and well I really can't be reached by those that I work with on a daily basis at all. I am leaving and not talking to them until I return to work in August. =0)

I do love Lake Powell, and have since I first went down there with my childhood friend and his family. I don't know if it is the beautiful red cliffs, the clean blue water, the nice warm weather, the nice sandy beaches, or the great company that I usually get to go with, but I do so love it.

Yeah, it is not a cruise in the Caribbean, but it is is probably the second best place on earth as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, I hope that y'all have a great week as I know that I will. =0)

Chao,

Beautiful Oregon Coast

2009-07-03T18:16:00.004-06:00

I am out in Oregon visiting my step-sister, and we all decided to go out to the coast to enjoy a day at the beach, and what a perfect day it was. I had a better camera, but don't have the cables to pull the pictures off if it, so the phone will have to do for now. =0)

The kids all had a good time making castles, playing in the water, while we enjoyed the sun and the sand. It was a great day at the beach, which is usually the case. =0)

New York 2009 - AWESOME!

2009-06-09T20:18:00.015-06:00

I just got back from a week in Manhattan New York, probably one of the best trips that I have been on in a long time. Here is a list of the shows that we went to see while we were there:

Billy Elliot
Absolutely INCREDIBLE!
I don't know that there is another way to describe this show
except that we couldn't even believe the talent, the fun, the
energy It was so much fun, everyone should see it!

In The Heights
This was a good show, and a lot of it was in spanish, so
not everyone was able to even follow it.

Hair
What a FUN Show! The cast members came out into the audience
several times to interact with us. When they were singing "Hair"
the girl in the canter of this picture came up to our row
(clear in the top) and played with my hair. Did I say FUN!

West Side Story
The talent was incredible! Great voices, dancing, and
spanish (they sang several songs in spanish with the revival)

Shrek the Musical
This show was hilarious, and I loved Lord Farquaad
the best (he did the entire show on his knees!)

Blithe Spirit
Staring Angela Lansbury, Seriously! She is so dang Funny!
She did a little dance around the state the reminded me of my
Grandma. We got her autograph on a playbill, Awesome! =0)

Well besides the shows we had a great time in New York. We were able to go to the Top of the Rock observatory (Top of the Rockefeller Center in the middle of Manhattan). We also ate at some great restaurants, and saw several other fun things that you could only see in New York.

We stayed in a great hotel too, right outside of Times Square. It was an awesome trip and I am sure glad that I was able to go with great fun people. We had a blast and loved every minute of it!

MMMmmm.... Fresh from the Garden!

2009-06-09T20:02:00.005-06:00

This is what I picked out of my garden today. Nothing better than a freshly picked strawberry.

I was eating these in fact while I went through all of the pictures that I have taken on my camera in the last little while (New Your and Las Vegas).

Now if only the sun would come out so that the tomatoes and petters could grow... =0)

The end of the Year!

2009-05-27T21:22:00.005-06:00

Well only if you go to or work at a school that takes summer off, LOL.

So it is that time again, when our local schools are left vacant in the heat of the summer. So we have 2 days left before school is out, but you wouldn't guess that by walking the halls of a lot of the schools around. ;)

I spent 8 hours today at a local high school working on the school network, 4 hours of which were over-time. The days are getting longer, but the time is rushing by quicker, I swear it!

And so starts another summer...

Oh, and I get to go to New York in a couple days! =0) I cannot wait!

Beautiful headstone

2009-05-26T11:02:00.002-06:00

Well we made it to see my dad's newly laid headstone this weekend, doesn't it look good!

We are pleased with the way that it turned out, he would have been proud.

I'm getting good at this home owner thing,

2009-05-23T22:31:00.002-06:00

I just fixed my kitchen sink!

I can hardly wait to see what I get to fix next. =0)

I just found myself a second career

2009-05-19T23:05:00.002-06:00

Sprinklers!

I just had pressurized irrigation installed in my yard, and while they were installing it they broke my main sprinkler line, yeah this is the same one that I fixed over the weekend when I dug out the entire sprinkler box, replaced all of the valves, connections, wires, all that fun stuff.

So after working on this all day Saturday, I decided that it would be good to test the new pieces to make sure that I installed them correctly. As I went through the stations I quickly realized that the main line to the first station, as there was a huge geyser in the front of my yard with water, dirk, and rocks everywhere, great!

So I decided to fix that. Then on top of it since I have re-landscaped my yard, the original sprinklers don't work very well, so I decided to look into changing all of the heads to the correct model, no big deal right?

Well the correct heads only spray about half as far, which is good and bad. This means that I have to install twice as many heads as are currently installed in my front yard. So I started digging, went to Lowe's to get more parts, went back to get the correct parts, and I just finished installing them. I haven't tested them, but they better work or else!

So up to this point I have dug two huge holes in my front yard, followed by 6 smaller (but still good sized) holes that I had to do in order to replace the heads. Along with the holes, I swear that I have been to Lowe's, and the Sprinkler shop about 50 times, NO JOKE. I keep waiting tof my credit card company to call me in order to notify me that my card has been stolen by some Lowe's freak that won't leave the store.

So I have worked in my yard all day saturday, sunday morning and evening, Monday after work till after 10, and today after work till about 10. All I can say is these sprinklers better sprinkle good water for that stupid lawn f mine, otherwise I don't know what I will do...

I think that I could get my degree in sprinkler maintenance and installation at this point.

SunFlowers

2009-05-14T21:17:00.005-06:00

So I am kind of a freak, but I wanted to grow sunflowers again this year. I wanted to try different flowers though because I have a friend that planted some crazy flowers one year and they looked so fun. I went to plant them, but then I realized that my sprinkler system was broken for a while (I am getting secondary water put in) and I didn't want them to die a dry and horrible death in my back yard. SO I planted them in my Kitchen (far far away from the slugs and bugs in my yard)!

Ok, well I planted them in a large planter pot that I have moved into my kitchen. Earlier this evening I suddenly realized that I hadn't watered them since I had planted them last week, OOPS! As I went to water them I this is what I found!!!

They are Growing already! I just planted them last week and they are already poking their leaves out of the dirt. When I saw them I was so excited that I had to take a picture (see, I am a freak).

Well I really felt guilty that I hadn't posted anything, and so I decided that I would blog about the new additions to my household instead of the story about the FIRE at work, that wouldn't be a good story, right? (yeah, there was really a fire, what's next? Locusts???).

Anyway, I just started another class this week so I should get back to my homework... =0( This was a good distraction for a while though, don'tcha think?

Carnival Splendor - November 29, 2009 - Mexican Riviera Cruise

2009-05-02T17:46:00.007-06:00

I just finished booking and paying for my next cruise.

You are all invited, since I was invited from a guy that I work with. It looks like I will be on Vacation the week after Thanksgiving though. I guess the party that I am going with is planning to drive to Los Angeles where the ship departs, hope it is good weather!

Well let me know if you are interested in joining the party, the prices are right ($379 for inside cabin).

The ship, the Carnival Splendor is the newest ship in the Carnival Fleet, so that is pretty cool! I have never been on a ship this new. I think that it may be the largest ship that I have been on as well. Pretty excited!

The ports of call are:
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Mazatlan, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
and of course Los Angeles, CA

I have never been on a Mexican Rivierra cruise, so if anyone has any suggestions as far as what to take and what to do, I would be glad to listen. As of now I am planning on beaching myself and maybe shopping a little...? =0)

Hopefully the H1N1 (Swine Flu) is not in the picture! LOL

6" WATER MAIN - Do NOT assume that it is EMPTY!!!

2009-04-29T16:58:00.004-06:00

So it started out as a nice peaceful day at work. I had several things on my schedule, but nothing too bad, just some server installs for a new system (that is what I do at work). Then during a conference call to support, we all of a sudden lost power. That happens quite a lot though in my offices, so I didn't think anything of it. Then we slowly started to realize that the power was out throughout the entire building.

I hear someone talking outside about a water main, and so I decided I better go investigate. Upon investigation, I walked into the back door of the warehouse that occupies the other end of our building, only to find about 4" of water being shoved out the door by crazed warehouse workers and secretaries.

I guess there was someone there working on the fire suppression system that had assumed that the lines were drained and the valves shut when he tried to remove a broken section of the water main, he was wrong! OOPS!!!

So there was a man made geyser in the warehouse for several minutes as he scrambled to figure out how to shut it off, hence the 4" of standing water on the warehouse floor.

So the fun part; the geyser (so powerful that it pealed the paint off the wall) was pointed directly at all of the power distribution panels for the building, which also included the power distribution panels that feed the Data Center/Server Room for over 70 buildings spread throughout the valley and 100,000 users).

Miraculously the data center was still functioning, while the rest of the building was down. Several minutes after the water stopped someone went to check on the breaker boxes, and found that they were full of water. The one that we use for the Data Center however only had about 6" of standing water in it and was still passing power through it???

The servers were up for the time being, but as the water soaked into the electronics, it started to freak out, and caused the power to fail, and then kicked on the generator. The generator feeds through that same box, so I don't know how it was working but everything, except for the cooling units, stayed on in the server room.

Without the cooling units, the server room started to get hot quick, so we were forced to shut down everything that was not marked as Critical. We left the main router up as well as the security devices that allow for Internet access to and from the site. Other than that we shut about everything down and went to help squeegee an estimated 5,000 gallons out of the warehouse, FUN!!!

We all walked around with wet shoes for the rest of the day, and are still waiting for repairs to be done on the power and AC units. In all though we never lost Internet connection throughout all of the pain and chaos that we faced all day, that was awesome as it was our priority to keep these services open for the thousands of users that depended on them.

Quite the day at work!!!

110 In the Shade - PGHS Spring Production

2009-04-20T23:13:00.002-06:00

COME SEE IT! You won't be sorry!
Playing every night this week starting at 7:00 pm

See you there!

Le Rêve - Las Vegas

2009-04-20T08:11:00.005-06:00

I Love Spring Break! Especially if I can get away and have a great time.

This year I ended up taking my sister down to Las Vegas for the long weekend to get away from the 6" of snow and cold. We succeeded and ended up finding the sun, which was wonderful.

We did several things, but I my favorite was the show, Le Rêve at the Wynn.

It was incredible. You walk into the theater, and there is seating all around what should have been a stage, but it was a huge pool of water. On the water was a bed, floating there in the middle of the pool. It was lit from all different angles and the light was slowly changing from blue, purple, pink, and several other colors. My sister and I just sat there and watched the bed and looked at all of the other things in the theatre in awe (I know, I am a tech geek).

I don't even know how to explain the show, but it incorporated about everything that I could think of. There were flying acrobatic moves, fun dancing, great costumes (they all got wet!) surprising props, techno effects, great sound, and everything appealing to an audience that could involve water, acting, dancing, and sound.

Here are a couple images that I found on-line, but it is late and I need to go to bed because if now I will become the monster that you can see in the third image (I think that it is the devil).

Fun show, I would recommend it!

While in Vegas my sister and I also spent some quality time watching the incredible Belagio fountains (I love them). We also had to spend time at the hotel pool soaking up as much sun as we possible could (which reminds me I need to apply aloe).

Hope you all had a great spring break, and if you maybe you could come with me next year! =0)

Choir Tour 2009

2009-03-28T18:22:00.013-06:00

This year I was invited to go on Choir tour again. It was a while ago, but I figure it is better late than never, right? We had an awesome time, the Choir was incredible and fun to watch in all of the performances and work-shops that they participated in (well when they weren't looking like death, keep reading).

So we went to Sea World, which was fun because I hadn't been there for several years. Something new that I saw this year was the dolphin experience. I knew that they had dolphins, but I didn't know that you could get up close and personal with them! Here is our video of getting up close and personal with the dolphins (I think I was wet for the rest of the day after this little dolphin encounter!)

This one really was the splasher. I should have noticed, because as we walked up
to do the dolphin encounter, there was a bunch of people that had just gotten soaked
by this same dolphin... Nice!

Here are some fun shots of all of my friends at Sea World and Disneyland

My Friend the Dolphin.
THis is the nice one, not the one that splashes.
The one that splashed through was really good at splashing!

This is me feeding one of the Bat Rays at the bat ray encounter.
They splashed a little too, but nothing like that cute dumb Dolphin!

And there are my friends all trying to force Debbie to feed one of the
ugly scary bat rays. Now she looks like she really wants to do that, right??!

And now to Disneyland:
The happiest place on earth!

Riding the Grizzly River Rapids, This is the Choir Director commanding
the water to stay in the river and to be Calm...? It didn't work,

And there in the tube behind us are some more of our friends.
Hi Friends!

Oh, and the Log Ride (I don't know the real name).
This was when we just were starting out and everyone was still
happy and dry.

Well everyone except for my friend in front of me, who I never really
got a good shot of because either he WAS the shot, or he was OUT
or the shot. There he is though, you can see his back =0)

And the great Fall!
Notice the hands in the Front. That is the choir director's hands.
When he walked off the ride he was SOAKED to the Bone,
and the sun was just starting to go down, so it was chilly.
We didn't do this again the following day in case you were wondering.

And here we are at the end of the ride, You can't see it but the guy in the front,
well his shirt was totally soaked! Good thing it dried quick or he would
has been really cold, as it wasn't the warmest of days at Disneyland...

Those three days (2 days at Disneyland) were the most exciting, but the other days were fun, just not photo fun. The choir sang in the Music in the Parks festival in Disneyland. When we went to the awards festival this year there were far fewer schools than there usually were. That was nice though because we took first in everything that we entered. GO PGHS!

The funny thing is that they sang at 9:30 in the morning. Now this was day 3 of the trip; after one full day at Sea World, and another long day at Disneyland. They were all obviously tired, and many of the students were sick, make that all of the students on bus 1. As luck would have it, the two soloists, of course, had the most severe sore throats and had lost their voices. The male soloist (Tony) was able to sing his part, but you could tell that he wasn't as comfortable as usual. The female soloist however couldn't do anything but mouth the words and try to look alive.

Before the performance I went in to help out with the warm-ups and couldn't help but laugh. Most of the students looked like they had died the night before, and somehow their bodies had been set in place on stage. They looked like hell to tell you the truth, I was worried... Then all of a sudden the stage lights came on, and they all must have come back to life or something, because they started to sound great, and some of them even looked great.

When they got to the solos, Tony did a decent job, so he decided that he could sing his part. Jim (the director) however has to sing the female part, and decided that this was how it was going to have to be for the performance too (His Intro: and this is Jim Wilcock who plays the pitches and sings the solos). It was different, but it actually sounded really good from the audience. I guess the adjudicators liked it becasue we got straight superiors in each of the three categories.

The tour was really fun. I am glad that I have such awesome friends at the school because without them I would have stayed at home, worked like normal, and been stuck in another weekend full of freezing temperatures and ugly white snow. Yay for fun trips!

Is it summer yet...

2009-03-25T20:29:00.003-06:00

I keep thinking that it should be warm outside, but every time I walk or look outside, it seems that it is snowing, dark, cold, and miserable... Can't we just be done with winter already? I am dying for some heat here!

Maybe I just need to move to this place,

Into the Woods

2009-02-23T17:01:00.003-07:00

Pleasant Grove High School Performing Arts is running their showing of Into the Woods this week after months of preparation. I have been a part of the technical setup of the production including lighting (very little), sound (we have 16 brand new microphones), and some of the special effects that have been incorporated into the production.

This is a production that is being done by high school students, bu

t you would never guess that by the sounds and sights that you are presented with as you watch the show. The Director and his assistants have done an Incredible job at making this a great show, and I would recommend that anyone and everyone go to see it. Here is the synopsis that I pulled off of Wikipedia:

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife, brought acclaim to the production during its original Broadway run.
Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera. The musical has been produced many times, with a 1988 national tour, a 1990 West End production, a 1991 television production, a 1997 tenth anniversary concert, a 2002 Los Angeles production and a 2002 Broadway revival.[1]

Anyway COME SEE IT!

It shows Monday (Tonight) through Saturday night starting at 7:00 every evening. The prices are $6.00 for adults, $5.00 for students, and $3.00 for children (12 and under). Come say hi if you decide to come see it. =0)

Lost in Portland...

2009-02-03T00:00:00.005-07:00

Well this weekend, I was able to drive my sister and her two cute little sons home to Oregon. we made the drive to Oregon on Saturday, rested on Sunday (we may have gone to a museum to see the Spruce Goose), and then I drove home on Monday.

Well Sunday night I jumped on the Internet to make sure that I knew how to get home. The first step and most difficult I might add, would be making it to portland, then I just had to follow the Interstate all the way home. Well I didn't quite follow the plan this morning when I started my journey. Instead of following the route that was recommended, I took a little detour.

This is the route that I took, and it wasn't too far out of the way, but it could have been if it hadn't been for Melissa on the HelpDesk. She was amazing at trying to figure out where the heck I was, and then pointing me in the right direction. I finally made it to portland, and then onto INterstate 5, and then onto Interstate 84, when I then just had to follow for about 900 miles.

The detour was gorgeous, even though it may have added a little time onto the journey. It was early morning still, the the terrain was slightly hilly but really green. There were patches of mysterious fog settled below the hills, and the sun was making the bright green trees and fields shine a beautiful green. It was actually quite incredible.

Then in Idaho I missed the most beautiful sun set. I saw a little of it, but I was driving on I-84, so I couldn't look long. It was really pretty though. The snow covered fields were reflecting a blue tint, and then the sky was pink, red, purple, and then dark blue with scattered clouds that reflected the colors. It was really pretty, but I didn't dare look at it for too long. It was really pretty though in case you didn't get that part.

Oh, and I got to see the Spruce Goose which was Incredible. This thing is so dang big, I couldn't believe it. AND, it is made of WOOD! I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!!!

In all it was a great trip.
Way cool! =0)

Thanks for the support in my time of need... and now Homework!?!

2009-01-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone that has contacted my by any means possible (and I mean any). I so appreciate all of the support that everyone has given. This has been a hard thing to go through, and I imagine that it will still be hard for a while.

Thinking though that I was going to get my mind off of things, I started to try to get cough up on my homework. Well I am in a Physics class that I started the night the my father passed away. The professor was incredible, and has let me start a week late, but as I logged into the class and started reading the book, I started thinking that this may not be such a good idea.

Work was fine, but this homework is not fine. This crap is for the birds, and I don't mean My bird.

I don't know what my problem is, but I guess I am supposed to know how to "Calculate the magnitude of the force between two 3.60-uC point charges 9.3 cm apart"... Whoda What?

Anyway, I am just about ready to throw this book out into the big freaking ugly pile of snow out on my driveway that I got stuck in again this morning. Then after that I am going to call my university and demand my money back because this education sucks! Shoot, they assume that I know this stuff already, Why in the world would I be in this class if I already knew how to do it??? Tell me that!

Anyway, maybe I need a little sleep, but this is insane!

Thanks though for your support with the passing of my dad, now I just need support of another kind...;)

Life History of Paul E Liston

2009-01-26T23:13:00.006-07:00

This is the talk that I gave at the funeral on Saturday.

• Paul Earl Liston was born on September 19, 1956 to Verdin and Marie Liston
o September is during the pine nut season, and if you know the Listons and their pine nuts, then you would know that Verdin was out back working the pine nut sorting and counting machines.
o When my grandma felt like it was time to go to the hospital, she had to call Sandra, my dad’s oldest sister to drive her to the hospital because there was no interrupting a Liston while working in the pine nuts.
• Paul as a first name was decided upon because his mother liked it.
• Earl came from Paul’s uncle Earl Saxton, and Grandma Liston said that Paul E Liston just sounded like a good strong name.

• Paul is the youngest of seven children:
o Sandara
o Sherril
o Elaine
o Larry
o Joyce
o Janice
o Paul

• Paul grew up on 800 east in Orem and often participated in the many family businesses that he could participate in
o For many years the family sold Christmas trees all over the valley.

• Before Paul even started school he had already started his own money making scheme. He would go around and gather left-over bunches and Christmas tree limbs and sell them as Christmas decorations to the customers.
• His siblings said that he made a lot of money for his age.
o Another family business that they worked in almost every year was Pine nuts.
• Paul would always help to sell the family pine nuts, and did a great job in sales.
• When he was off of his mission he started driving a large semi truck picking up and delivering the pine nuts to the Orem yard. That truck is how I got one of these scars on my forehead.

• Paul has always been a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
o At a young age he regularly attended the adult Sunday school and relief society classes, and was also faithful visiting teacher because everywhere that his mother went, Paul was by her side.
o When Paul was about 5, the Provo temple was just being built. He wanted to be a part of the beautiful building, so he donated $5.00 to the temple fund to help in the lords work.
o When he was a young boy there was a drought when lots of ward members prayed and fasted for rain. The next day Paul was seen out walking in his raincoat and boots, getting ready for the rain. His faith was always incredible both as a child and as an adult.

• Paul attended Hillcrest Elementary School in south Orem
o In Paul’s own words he agreed that he wasn’t the best student, but he sure loved school.
o His favorite teacher was Mr. Rogers – He taught the students how to play games at recess and became more of a friend to his students than just a teacher.
o He was not one to do a lot of reading, but he did own every Dr. Seuss book that he knew about.
o While he was in elementary school he had a favorite red shirt. In fact he loved it so much that his mother said that he wore it every day to school. She had to wash it out every night so that he could wear a clean red shirt to school. It is no surprise to us though; he has always been a practical and determined man.
o Paul always excelled at everything that he did. One day one of his teachers asked him to find as many words that he could out of the word Constantinople. He asked everyone to help and ended up founding the most words out of anyone in his class. He always wanted to be the best at everything that he did

• At age 12 Paul started helping the family by working with the Utah Trail Builders company (composed mostly of Liston family)
o They worked on many trails in different western states including:
o Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, California, Colorado, Utah
• Pacific Crest Trail in California and Washington
• Aspen Grove and American Fork Timpanogos trail

• In high school Paul was known by everyone by his nick-name; pine tree
o Paul was very likable and had many friends. He was elected as Senior Class President at Orem High School for the graduating class of 1975
o He was a state record holder in track-and-field for the shot-put, and was considered a star on the Track and Field team of Orem High.
o Along with these great achievements, Paul also played the trumpet in the Orem High School band, and ended up competing for first chair against John Davis, and Kirt Bestor. This was motivation enough to keep my dad practicing daily to be the best dang trumpet player in the school.

• Paul Liston was called to server an LDS mission in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania mission where he was influential in teaching the gospel to many families.
o There was one contact in particular that puts the Liston name just one step closer to the movie stars. Paul and his companion spent many hours in the home of Christina Aguilera’s mother. The family continued to send him Christmas cards for several years after his mission.
o It was on his mission that Paul gained a very firm testimony of the reality of the presence of the Holy Ghost. This became an anchor to help him with future decisions throughout his lifetime.

• In 1978 Paul married Alisa in the Provo Temple. Paul and Alisa are the parents of 5 children. Each of which has shared their favorite memories about their father, which I would like to share with you starting with myself…

o Bryan is the happiest child of the bunch, and was always the gadget wiz kid.
• I will always remember working with my dad down at the wood shop and at A&P Craft. He gave me a job when I was 10 just doing simple things around the shop and store. I loved how he always made the atmosphere inside professional and still playful and fun.
• I remember one of my favorite stories was during a Christmas party with the employees. He was being handed a couple presents to unwrap, and one of them was a tin of Oreo cookies, or so it seemed. As he went to pull the lid off of the tin he screamed a choice word or two dropped the tin on the ground and jumping into the air. Two little rats then jumped for safety as they were so poorly introduced to their new owner.
• We had rats for a couple years after that little prank, and they weren’t as bad as they seemed, but the tails of those guys always seemed to gross my dad out after that day.
• My dad was an awesome manager though. As the boss he demanded the respect of all his employees, but he also gave that same respect to each one of them, making them feel important in their own ways.
• I am so grateful that I have been able to spend time with my dad both in the home and in the work place. He has taught me many lessons in life, religion, and business. I hope that I can continue to make him proud in my future decisions.

o Mark is the hardest worker in the family and one of my dad’s best friends
• The best memories that I have are the ones of the fishing excursions up to Alaska when we were younger. Grandpa Liston (Verdin) Paul, my older brother Bryan and then me, Mark. Our first trip up there I learned a lot about Paul and how adventurous he really was and no matter what happened it was always a good trip whether we brought fish home or not it was all about the experience and the time that we all spent together. Paul loved to go see new places and explore new things, whether it was a glacier or a mountain or a trail Paul always wanted to see everything that he could and get a picture of it while we were there so that he could share the memories with others, I loved spending time with My dad and Grandpa and brother.
• For the past 5 years I enjoyed working with him in the excavation company, Paul and I were always on the phone talking about the next job or the next equipment that we needed to buy to do the job, me and him grew really close and I am so glad that I was able to work with my dad through the last few years of his life, I learned so much from him, he was always happy and had a smile on his face no matter what was happening around him, He always had a great attitude about life nothing could ever get him down, no matter what the problem or outcome was he just kept on smiling that is what I am going to remember most about my dad.

o Jill is the roudy one with a heart of solid gold, and my dad’s first little girl
• I will always be my daddy’s little girl
• I admire him so much for everything he has been through and accomplished.
• My dad’s stubbornness is what has gotten him as far as he got in life.
• There in nothing he couldn’t do as long as he wanted it done.
• He has always been there to support me whether he approved of not, but he would always let us know his thoughts.
• My dad fought till his last breath just like he has for the past four years.
• I am so glad that he was so stubborn so that we could have him for as long as we did.
• It just is never enough when you love someone so much.
• My dad is my hero and always will be.

o Brad was my dad’s little boy and easiest child to raise He always seemed to go with the flow and seldom complained.
• When ever I think about my dad, I think about camping out under the stars. He loved to be out camping, going four-wheeling, or just being outdoors.
• We had so much fun as a family on all of the Lake Powell trips. With our Liston luck every time that we went we'd get rained out or blown away by the storms that ruined so many of our tents, but it wasn't quite a Powell trip with out it.
• I love thinking about how he always tried so hard to make the week that we spent at Powell the best possible. I think about his swim suit that was probably a few sizes to small, and that ugly old orange marshmallow life jacket of his; every time that he'd jump off the boat into the water we weren't sure if he was coming back up or not. Those are my favorite memories of and with my dad.
• I also remember when dad found patty; he was so excited. I remember him telling us about her, and his face was lit up with a smile. I can only hope to be half of the man that he was to her. Patty says that he Never, not once, raise his voice to her, and I'll take Patty’s word for it.
• My dad was honest in all of his work that and always set an amazing example to everyone around him. In his last few months he was so dedicated to figuring out what was going on inside of him that he kept him self busy even though he had retired and felt sick. He spent weeks searching for every bit of voodoo that claimed to cure cancer.; not only did he look, but he also tried every one of them he could get his hands on.
• Again, I hope that I can be like him, to be that dedicated in everything that I put my mind to, just all around he was one of the best men that I think a lot of us knew. He will be missed

o Kerri is Paul’s little baby and is the cutest and most studious child with a lot of potential.
• One thing that I will always remember about dad is he always worked hard for what he wanted. He taught all of us to be hard workers, no matter what it is that we are doing
• My dad had a sheep-skin rug in his room at the foot of his bed that I loved to sleep on till I was about 10. I have heard stories though that he used to do the same with his mom and dad, I guess that must be a youngest child thing to do.
• I always remember the fishing trips of the trips to lake Powell. We haven’t gone quite so often in the last year, but the times we did were still a lot of fun.
• I loved my dad, and still do. He was an amazing father.
• Paul’s children were his greatest joys. Most of us have worked side-by-side with our dad in many of the business adventures that he has been involved in.
• Paul has been referred to by many as The man with the golden finger. He was very successful in the businesses the he owned and managed. He operated A&P Craft and Paul Liston Custom Wood for 15 years. He had several employees that loved and adored him, mostly Women, but there were a lot of them.

• Paul met Patty Creer Kerecman on a blind date in February 2001. They both knew immediately that they wanted to share the rest of their lives together.
o Their marriage was solemnized in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on May 25th 2001.
o He then became a father to four more children and eventually 5 grand children.

• Together Patty and Paul started Western Oasis, which was also known as Paul Liston Excavation.
o The business grew quickly and was a great success as Paul continued to please customers
o When it comes to business Paul says
• “Make your own good luck, don’t wait for it to come to you.”
• “Work hard, work smart, and rely on the lord“

• My dad’s favorite overall hobby was travelling, be it for business for leisure. Some of the places that he has been to are:
o Tahiti
o Mexico
o Hawaii
o Alaska
o Canada
o The Caribbean
o And several countries in Europe

• One of his most memorable vacations was taking his father Verdin to Alaska along with my brother and I. We had a guide take us out on several fishing trips, and my brother Mark always seemed to catch the biggest fish; I don’t think that I ever caught the BIG one, but I sure had a great time with my dad, my grandpa, and my brother.

• Something funny about my dad is that he looked a lot like Paul Newman. A good story about this happened one evening when my dad was having dinner at the Chine Town restaurant in Provo.
o After he ordered, he couldn’t help but notice several of the employees talking and pointing in his direction.
o One of them finally approached after hearing someone call him Paul and said “We knew it, you are Paul Newman aren’t you.”
o My dad probably laughed as he was often mistaken as Paul Newman throughout his life, including his time spent in Pennsylvania as a missionary.
• He would tell stories about knocking on the doors and telling people that he was Paul. Many of them would assume that he was Paul Newman and let them in.
• Face it, if a guy came to your door that looked like Paul Newman and said that his name was Paul, wouldn’t you let him into you house, if nothing more than to give him a drink?
• My dad has been the greatest example when it comes to patience, honesty, patients, determination, patience, patience, patience, reliability, and respect.

• My dad was not just a dad; he was a friend, he was a good listener, and he was someone you could confide in, and trust.

• He had a firm testimony that there is life after death and that families can be together forever. He was a great example of someone having incredible faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• I love my dad and will continue to do so throughout the rest of my life.

The passing of my father, Paul E. Liston

2009-01-21T23:54:00.008-07:00

I apologize, but it has been a few days since my father finally passed away.

He passed away Monday night at 10:30 pm while I was in the room watching him and talking with my sisters Jill & Kristine. After all of the pain and trials that he has been through in the last five years it was sad to see him go but it was also a blessing to know that he was free of the physical pain and sickness that he had been suffering.

We have been working on the funeral plans and obituary for the last two days. The viewing will be Friday night at the Walker Family Mortuary in Spanish Fork, Utah. The funeral services will be Saturday morning at 11:00, followed by the interment at the Spanish Fork City Cemetery (I just typed library, but I don't think that they would appreciate that. Long day...).

My dad was as amazing in life as he has been after. He made arrangements for just about everything so we have only had to make some of the small and simple decisions. This is so much easier than having to start out from scratch. I firmly think that it should be a good idea for everyone to have some sort of plan even if there is no foreseeable date of departure. It helps the family so very much as they deal with the loss and try to make everything work well.

Thanks dad! =0)

Paul E. Liston
(September 19, 1956 - January 19, 2009)

Paul Earl Liston passed away peacefully January 19, 2009 at home, after a courageous battle with GIST cancer. He was born September 19, 1956, in Provo, Utah to Verdin and Marie Hall Liston. He married Alisa Ann Adams in the Provo Temple on July 20, 1978 and they are the parents of five children. They divorced and he later married Patty Creer Kerecman. Their marriage was solemnized in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on May 25, 2001.

Paul owned and managed Paul Liston Woods & A&P Craft Supply for 15 years. He owned and operated Paul Liston Excavation & Western Oasis for the last eight years. He was always one that would work well with customers and will be greatly missed by many. Paul enjoyed the friendships of everyone that he associated with during his business career.

Paul lived for his wife Patty, kids, and grandkids; they were his whole world. Paul enjoyed life itself, and all blessings the Lord bestowed upon him. He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served an honorable mission in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The family would like to thank the following people for their excellent care in his time of need: Annette Nielsen, Dr. Brian Tudor, Dr. Lei Chen, CNS Hospice staff, Sandra and the “Baker girls”.

Paul is survived by his mother, Marie Liston; wife, Patty; nine children, Bryan, Mark (Tara), Jill (Nate Olsen), Brad, and Kerri Liston; Kelli, Kristine (Adam Asay), Kyle, and Clay Kerecman; grandchildren, Kaiden, Ryder, Miles, Tinny, & Brynlee; siblings, Sandra (Ken Baker), Sherril (Sherry), Elaine (Joe Ford), Larry (Madelyn), Joyce, and Janice (Delwin Hemmingway). He is also survived by his in-laws, Howard N. and Joyce H. Creer. Paul was preceded in death by his father, Verdin Liston.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. in the LDS Chapel at 870 East Canyon Road, in Spanish Fork. There will be a viewing held at Walker Mortuary, 187 South Main, in Spanish Fork on Friday evening, January 23, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and at the church on Saturday morning from 9:45-10:45 a.m. prior to the service. Interment will be in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery.

Condolences can be sent to the family on the Walker Family Mortuary web site.

The good and the bad

2009-01-19T11:37:00.004-07:00

Boy, I had no clue what it would be to go through this. We have been very lucky in my family. Up to this point the only person that has passed away was my grandpa, but it was expected. Caring for and watching for my dad has been a hard thing to go through. He has good days, and then some not so good days.

Sunday luckily was a pretty good day. We had many friendly and loving visitors to come and show support to him as well as the family. One thing that has come out of this is that my siblings and I are a lot closer now than I think we have ever been.

I have also watched Patty's family and felt their love and I appreciate them ever so much. More so than I could even express. Patty's daughter has been here with Patty and Paul ever since Paul was brought home. She has been as strong as a wolf, with support for everyone here. She also brought Diet Coke with her, Thanks! =0)

Well My dad is still fighting and we don't know how much longer he will be with us. At this point though I think that we all feel that he has suffered more than he should be allowed, and that he needs to pass on to somewhere better. I am sure that there is a large crowd up there somewhere waiting to greet him as he enters the next process.

Someone passed along this book, The Message in hopes that it would help to ease the pain. It has a great message of the afterlife and what happens as loved ones pass through to the next life. It has helped me to remember that there is a large master plan that includes all of us. It is a quick read but I would recommend it to anyone in this same situation.

Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Hospice

2009-01-15T20:37:00.003-07:00

So unfortunately I learned what hospice was today.

My dad has been suffering from a rare form of cancer known as GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor). He was diagnosed with this cancer several years ago and has been involved in several state-of-the-art medications and treatments to help fight the disease.

About a year ago the treatment that he was on stopped working. There is a lot of research going on out there right now, and there were a couple things that my dad tried in the house and in the doctor's office to try and beat this beast.

Well, over the past year the tumors have grown and grown until recently. There is a brand new treatment that they just started my dad on. It sounded really good, and actually started working. He took a CAT scan in december that revealed that three of the four tumors had stopped growing, and had even started to shrink in size. Wonderful news!

The fourth tumor however hadn't stopped growing but it looked like it was starting to slow down (this is the largest one by the way). I don't know a lot about the tumors, but slowing down sounded good to me.

Well, last weekend my dad called me and said that he had things to do if I wanted to come over, so I went over to help in at his house. When I got there though I met a man that was not acting like my dad. He was up and moving around the house, but he was very slow and seemed like he was sleep walking. As the day went on he did some crazy things that didn't make sense at all. These actions really worried Patty and I.

We decided that we shouldn't leave him along as long as he was acting like this. We thought that maybe he was acting like this because the medications were not mixing well. We took him off of the pain medication and off of the anxiety medication to see if that helped. Sunday morning he was a little better, but was still really slow. Then he started to complain about severe pain in his chest and lower body, so we gave him a pain patch.

For the rest of the day he continued to respond slowly if at all, but it was better than the day before, so Patty and I just figured that we should go easy on the medications. Well Monday morning I guess that things were worse.

Monday morning he got up and made it into the bathroom before he collapsed, unconscious. Patty called 911 and they transfered him to the ER in Provo. For the past 4 days the doctors have been running every scan, x-ray, or test that they could think of to try and figure out what was causing the problems.

Well this morning they came into the room after taking another scan of the tumors. The scan showed that the large tumor had started to fight back and started to grow. It seems that just in the last two weeks that the tumor has continued to grow at a pretty fast rate, causing everything in the chest cavity to be compressed. This tumor is located in his liver, and is now more than three times the size of a normal liver.

The only thing that they can think of is that the size and immediate growth of the tumor has taken over so much of the liver that it is unable to do anything with the blood that it is supplied with. Just in the last week his health has gone downhill so fast that we find it hard to believe that it was the tumor.

Everything in his chest cavity though is so compressed that his heart is having problems pumping blood, his lungs are having trouble breathing, and everything just seems to be slowly stopping. The Doctors said that they recommended ceasing treatment of the cancer so that my dad could return to his house and his family in peace and comfort. This is where the hospice comes into play.

Hospice isn't an option unless the patient has a terminal illness and usually less than 6 months to live. With the growth of the tumor in my dad's liver, and the rate of shutdown of all of his systems, the doctors said that he may have a week left to live...

-----

So after that news we returned home, setup one of those temporary medical beds in my dad's office, and have started to prepare for the worst. Watching my dad go this way has been hard, but I never imagined that it would be like this. It is something that we knew would come one day, but didn't think that it would hit this week. Luckily he has been able to prepare a little as far as how he wants things to occur and all that, but it is still so much harder than I have ever even imagined.

I feel so hurt for everyone involved.

His Mother who, at 95, is as healthy or healthier than any of her children. She says that a parent should not live to see a son die.

His Wife. He has recently found love in his second marriage. Both Patty and Paul have worked so hard to make things happen. They paid off the house, they planned vacations together, they planned retirement. And now they have planned a funeral.

My little 16 year old sister who still needs a dad to watch out for her and make sure that the guy that takes her to the dance has someone to fear.

My little brother who is getting married in June, and when planning the date was hoping that it would be soon enough for my dad to attend.

The list goes on and on so don't be offended if I didn't list you...

Everyone that I can think of will miss this wonderful and respected man. He has done so much that I can't even begin to list everything that he has done for me. I am ever so grateful for all the time that he has spent with me, and now I don't know what I am going to do that he will not be here for much longer. Cherish the memories and lessons I guess.

-----

Well tomorrow is another day for us here at the Liston house. Lots of visitors and lots of family. Thanks to everyone that has shared your love and concern.

Happy Bird Day to Daisy!

2009-01-04T17:23:00.009-07:00

While it may not be Daisy's Exact birth day, I celebrate her birthday on National Bird Day, which is Jan. 5th.

She will be 11 tomorrow, almost a teenager!

I don't know what I am going to get her yet. I was going to take her to work and celebrate it with my office, but it is going to be damn cold tomorrow, and I don't want her to get sick. So instead I am going to leave her in her pen in the nice warm house.

I will probably give her an extra peanut or two, and maybe something else. She is a fan of food, so she is easy to shop for.

I may even sing 'Happy Bird Day" (it sounds just like the familiar "Happy Birthday" song, but it is a little different).

Happy Bird Day to any bird owners out there =0)

Utah Utes - 13 and 0 - The Perfect Seasom

2009-01-02T21:46:00.005-07:00

I usually cheer for BLUE (PGHS Vikings), but when the University of Utah Utes play, I cheer for RED (mostly because they are not Blue... (byu blue that is))

Utah played Alabama State tonight in the Allstate SugarBowl and they kicked some Butt!

I wish that I could have gone to New Orleans to see the game, but it wasn't meant to be this time. I was there though in my living room though, cheering all the way.

GO UTAH!!!

And now I am done with the Snow!!!

2008-12-25T17:10:00.004-07:00

So I wake up Christmas morning to a "White Christmas" Is this supposed to be a good thing?

Santa came to visit me at my dad's house over in Spanish Fork, so I had to go over there to celebrate Christmas. So, before I could celebrate Christmas I had to:

Shovel my driveway, and the driveway of my neighbor, since I am a good neighbor, and Hey! It's Christmas! Well the snow was deeper then I had first thought, I think that we got a good 8-9 inches, so once I started, I couldn't very well not finish (dang that nice gene).

Well an hour later I walked into the house dripping from sweat (oh yeah, I had just showered and put on clean clothes). So now I smell like a wet hog, but that's ok. I am just going to celebrate Christmas with my family!

So I grab my bird, jump in the car, and head down the driveway.

Well, in the cul-de-sac that I live in we have been working on creating a good snow pack for vehicles, which actually works very well once it is packed down. Well little did I know, but the city came and tried to help us with the snow pack. They however didn't get the memo that snow melt doesn't help pack snow, in fact it melts the snow (Thanks AF City). So I drove into a puddle of slush, covered by a decieving 8 inches of fresh powder snow. High-Centered....

I put my car in drive, reverse, drive, reverse, drive, reverse, drive, reverse.... And finally was just about ready to leave my car in the middle of the cul-de-sac, walk into my house, take a shower, and get back into bed for about 4 mounths.

But then I must have hit some of the good packed snow, but my car finally started to get some movement, and I just went for it. I didn't slow down or stop till I was on a cleared road. Then the freeways were covered in that crappy white s%^t, (who likes this stuff anyway)! Traffic wasn't too bad since it was still early on Christmas morning, but I finally made it to my dad's house, just as they were starting to open presents...

I hate the Cold, I hate the Snow, I hate driving in the Cold and in the Snow, I hate Winter, and I hate the Cold SNOW!!!

um, Did I say Merry Christmas! =0)

It was a merry christmas, but not until I got Far Far away from my house, stopped sweating like a hog, stopped swearing like a saylor, and was able to relax and enjoy some time with my loveley family.

Happy Somethin' ;0)

2008-12-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all;

Additionally,

a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, color, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.

(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.)

I am done with the cold...

2008-12-18T02:10:00.004-07:00

I never agreed to these temperatures! Seriously, who wanted to live in Utah anyway? Crazy old-timers!

I need to move somewhere where the low of the year is about 50, and you never have to scrape your windshield!

I could handle that... =0)

I hate school...

2008-12-18T00:41:00.002-07:00

Well, ok I really just hate dumb teachers that think that they are gods gift to us, and that we are little pieces of poop that he has collected on the bottom of his brand new shoes.

Just wanted to share the fun that I am having, =0)

Prop 8 - The Musical

2008-12-04T07:30:00.006-07:00

I am sorry, but you just have to watch this. It is a must see if you support rights for all families, not just the traditional hetrosexual families. ;)

This clip is not for the faint of heart (about Prop 8) by the way, so it may not be for everyone. It is freaking hilarious though. I can't believe all of the big named actors and actresses that participated, I would watch it just for that.

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more...

Thanks Radio from Hell for playing this... Ha ha ha
Kerry Bill & Gina

and Today I will say
Marry Christmas

(but because I want to, not because Buttars is trying to force me to)

War on Christmas? - BUTTARS!!!

2008-12-02T19:36:00.009-07:00

I have a good idea, Let's mandate that when a company advertises for their December Sale, that they have to use the word Christmas or they will be fined by the State...

Who is this guy? Is he being Serious? SERIOUSLY?!?

Here is the story on KSL, but Buttars is drafting a resolution on what he calls the "War on Christmas." (what?!?)

He is trying to mandate that advertising during the Holiday season include the word Christmas, and not just Winter Holiday, or other general "politically correct" references to Christmas.

So it is kind of dumb that some don't reference Christmas, but do we not live in a free country? Should this be one of our major concerns? Is this the best thing that Buttars can propose to help us with the current recession and budget costs?

Incredible!
And he just got voted back into the Government after calling a bill ugly, "This Baby is Black..., It's a dark ugly thing." Who votes in Utah anyway?

UPDATE: Buttars - Voted the "WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!" by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Now that is a vote that I would have to agree with. Ha ha ha ha ha

Happy Holidays!
(I better take advantage of being able to say that while I still can here in Utah)

My Grandma Liston & Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T08:42:00.005-07:00

Well yesterday my Grandma Liston came to visit my dad, and I happened to be there (I have been there a lot this weekend, it has been great). She was there with my aunt Joyce who lives rignt nextdoor to her so she was the lucky one who gets to drive her places. =0)

Well my grandma is about 95 years old, and I truthfully think that she has better knees that I do. I don't know what keeps her going, she said that she eats a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy things, but who knows what her secret it.

So we all decided to snap a picture, here is my Aunt, My Dad, My Grandma, and Myself.
You may notice that my dad doesn't look very healthy, he is going through a pretty nasty fight with cancer right now. He has been so good to do anything and everything to kill the cancer, so we all still have high hopes that he can beat it and live for a long time still.

I had a nice quiet thanksgiving though with my dad and Patty's family (she is the one behind the camera, Thanks Patty!). Uncle Shane made one awesome turkey with some wicked moist white meat, and uncle George couldn't get over how moist it was, LOL. Then of course we had Grandma Joyce's famous banana cream pie, Mmmmm. Of course I ate too much, but it was just so dang good!

I was able to see everyone in my immediate family this Thanksgiving as well. Jill came down thanksgiving morning, Brad was staying at my dad's house so I ran into him a couple times, Mark made it down Saturday morning, and Kerri made it home saturday evening for a couple hours. It is sad that we all live within such close proximity, and yet hardly see each other. Life is too crazy.

Go UTES! [BYU 24 - Utah 48]

2008-11-22T19:01:00.005-07:00

Well another year, another win.

If you aren't from Utah you won't get it, but it has been quite the week getting ready for the BYU - UTAH rivalry football game. There are blue and red flags and apparel everywhere. It is usually a pretty big thing in Utah, but this year both teams have had a great seasons, so it was bound to be an exciting game.

I don't have cable, and I was doing homework, so I was stuck listening to the game. As the game progressed, I really wanted to watch the game. Well I found the next best thing. There is an awesome virtual game recap on-line that I found by looking on the U of U sports page. It is called GameTracker and it is pretty dang cool! Here is a screen shot of the last field goal (you can see the little player on the field and the football flying through the goal posts). There are a bunch of other options that you can see on the screen too, but I was just watching this part. =0)

I thought it was pretty cool...

Needless to say I didn't really get a lot of homework done during the game. Oh well! He he

Weekend in Washington DC

2008-11-19T14:04:00.032-07:00

What an Fun and Incredible weekend! Let me tell you about it...

This weekend I decided to go visit a good friend that is doing an internship with Congressman Jim Matheson that has good political and tourist connections. Andy is currently living in the Washington DC and invited me down to help him spend some time touring the capital of the US. I of course jumped in as a great friend would in order to help him see a little more of the touristy part of DC while he is working on his Internship.

I flew out on November 13th, which just happens to be my Birthday. Happy Birthday! It was a great one! I flew all night and arrived Friday morning just in time to go sight-seeing. Wahoo!

Day 1 - Friday November 14th:

Once I was able to go to the apartment and drop off my luggage, I was ready to tour the place. The first official tour that we had planned was the Pentagon. We took the metro to the Pentagon City area. We were a little early so we wandered around the pentagon to the new recently dedicated 9-11 Pentagon Memorial, which was incredible. The site of the impact of the plane is now re-built, but they have built the memorial in front of the area where it all happened. They have a "bench" if you will, for each causality of the attack (in the plane and building alike). They are supported on one side and point toward the building if they were on the plane, or away from the building if they were in the building. They are all aligned in a grid-like system listed from youngest to oldest, following a wall that grows an inch for every year that is represented. It is really cool all of the symbolism that they have built into it. You should go see it if you get a chance.

Once inside the Pentagon, we were told that we couldn't take pictures, but I wanted to. Most of what we saw was pretty boring. Hallway after hallway with white tile, unmarked or marked doors, and tonz of memorabilia for great warriors and leaders. I did learn that there is a lot of smbolism built into the pentagon. There are of course 5 sides to the building, but there are also 5 floors above ground, and each floor is divided into 5 rings starting from the inside to the outside. There are 5 hallways that lead from the center to the outside ring. All built in 5's. In the plaza in the center of the pentagon, there is a little shack (hot dog stand) that was the target of the soviets during the cold war. If you look at a picture from above the pentagon you can see it, and it looks like a huge giant wall there to protect whatever is in the center. That is what the Soviets saw and targeted the poor little hot dog stand. Oops! :0]

After that we headed into the center of DC to get some food and check out some of the museums. Well after just a couple minutes inside the National Museum of Natural History we realized that they were closing, so we made note that almost all museums close at 5:30 in DC (good to know). So we headed to get some food in down town DC. ON the way we saw police card sitting at every intersection, just waiting for something. I just figured it was normal I guess. After a while though we heard sirens coming down the road. There was a huge motorcade of cop cars, vans, and limousines, several of the vehicles sporting flags of Japan. We quickly assumed that the dignitaries from Japan were heading to the White House for dinner with the President.

Not long after that we say a similar motorcade pass us with flags from Australia, and then another one with British flags. There were sirens everywhere, it was insane! We found a good place for dinner, snuck in, and had some food. When we came out the roads had totally been cleared out and blocked off. Cops were standing and waiting everywhere. We found out that the President and all of the other delegates were still on their way to the White House, and for security reasons the roads had been blocked off and cleared of everything. We started walking down the road, and ducked inside a hotel to ask for directions. As we were coming out again, we were able to catch the last 12 vehicles of the motorcade headed toward the white house. Later we heard that they were having a summit meeting about the financial crisis of the economy with many world leaders.

For the rest of the weekend we saw several motorcades moving dignitaries and their guards around the capital. There were cops everywhere you would look. Someone said that the national threat level was raised to orange that night, but I never checked that out to see if that was true.

Crazy stuff though! Here is a news article from the Washington Post that covered the meeting at the White House:

Full Plate at White House for G20: Economic Talk and Quail

By Martin Weil and Marissa Newhall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 15, 2008; Page A10

President Bush welcomed visiting heads of state to the White House last night for a dinner held on the eve of a financial summit prompted by global economic distress.

Last night's event, designed to help cope with the crisis, actually added to Washington's pain for a time: Street-clogging convoys of limousines aggravated the city's rush-hour traffic congestion.

Carefully orchestrated, the arrivals of the international leaders at the North Portico began at 5:55 p.m. They continued until the Brazil delegation made its appearance about 80 minutes later.

The gathering inside the mansion was described as a "working dinner." It was intended to be relatively informal, conducted without spouses and with less pomp and ceremony than characterizes state and official occasions.
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The guests were the leaders of the G20, which consists of the important industrialized and developing economies. Joining them were heads of key international financial organizations.

The official menu included fruitwood-smoked quail, thyme-roasted rack of lamb and baked Vermont brie with walnut crostini, along with three wines.

In his toast in the State Dining Room, Bush said the financial crisis "did not develop overnight, and it will not be solved overnight."

To the leaders from North and South and from both hemispheres, he emphasized a global outlook. He urged recognition of global economic interdependence and a resistance to any calls for protectionism.

In a statement, the White House said the leaders "had a good, productive meeting."

Day 2 - Saturday November 15th:

Today the first thing that we had planned was to tour the White House. This tour was initially scheduled for Friday, but I guess they had to get ready for the G20 Summit meetings, so they moved the tour to Saturday. fine with us.

There were a lot of people there that morning to tour the White House. They pushed up through there like cattle, but it was still really fun to see. It was hard to imagine all of the things that had happened within that incredible building. Even just to think that the night before world leaders from all over met around a table to discuss the crisis and possible solutions and affects. It was really fun to think about that as we walked through each of the rooms.

The decoration was pretty cool. Several of the rooms had themes that had been followed during their decoration. It was fun to see some of the artifacts that they had used as decoration. We were able to read though the history of the rooms as we walked through them too. Just a very historical environment, it was a great feeling finally being able to see the White House. This is the house that every great American leader had lived in since George Washington.

After that we wandered around downtown for a while taking in all of the sites sounds and smells of the capital. It was a nice fall day in the Capital. The leaves were still falling to the ground, and the weather had a hint of chill, but it was still fairly mild weather, luckily.

Our final goal was to make it to the National Air and Space Museum to explore some of the interesting facts about flight and space travel. I spent the better part of the day here walking through all of the different and interesting exhibits. It was a really fun museum. I have always been interested in flight and space, so the mixture of the two was perfect! Finally at 5:30 they kicked us out and forced us to go find something else to do.

We decided that it was time for dinner and that maybe we could catch a movie since we had been walking all day long. We ended up going to see the movie "W" which was about the life and presidency of President George W. Bush. It was interesting. I have seen it once though and don't ever have to see it again.

Day 3 - Sunday November 16th

Today we slept in a little, which was nice. Once we were up and going though we headed back to check out some more of the museums in the DC area.

We made it to the American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery first. Here we looked at a little of the modern art, but I didn't feel like I was really enjoying it after exploring the Air and Space Museum all day the day before. We headed down to go through the Presidents of the United States, which I enjoyed. They had at least one portrait of each of the past presidents. They also had a little write-up on several of them, and a media addition to some of the exciting happenings in the history of the United States. It was pretty cool, and it was free too. Well worth that for sure!

After a while of that we headed to the The National Archives Building in DC. This is where all of the American Documents are housed. There is a museum that shows a lot of the history and then there is a quiet hall where all of these documents are put on display. The three that we were there to see were The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and The Bill of Rights; in that order of course.

These documents were pretty dang cool. Sure they were hard to read due to the age and safe lighting in the room, but it was incredible to be able to see the documents that gave the United States its purpose and freedom.

After admiring these documents we headed to the old Post Office Pavilion building that has been restored as an office building with a food court. There is a clock tower that they allow people to go up into. This is the highest point in DC and has a great view of everything around. I took a good shot of the Capital building from there, and also of the Washington Monument and the FBI Building. It was fun to see everything from above for once, because it seemed that I was always looking from the bottom up.

After grabbing some food at the food court, we headed to the National Museum of Natural History. They have a really cool ocean exhibit here. We walked through that and also walked up-stairs to see the Hope Diamond along with several other gems and pretty rocks. ;)

After wandering around in the Museum, we decided to dare the chilly wind (it was cold today) and visit some of the memorials that were close by. We headed down the National Mall towards the Washington Monument. It was a very clear day, but the wind had a bitter chill in it.

The washington monument was fun to see again. I think that in 96 I went up to the Top with the tour that I took on a High School clogging tour. I didn't have to do it again, but it was good to see. Here is a shot of Andy and I as we passed the monument and headed toward the other monuments further on down the National Mall.

This picture of Andy and I was taken by some guy that spoke only a little english, but he did a pretty good job. He had a better camera than I had though so I wasn't really worried. ;0)

There is a new monument for World War II Memorial that I haven't seen before. It was really cool to see. There are pillars for each state that participated in the war, and then there is a fountain in the middle, then a wall of stars for all the soldiers that fell during the war. The wall says something about the cost of freedom, and is really cool. I stole this picture from the Internet, but it was just like that when we saw it at night.

We then continued on to the Lincoln monument, which was also cool like always. These are monuments that are fun to see in person since they are always seen in movies and pictures. There is something about being there in person that just gives me a feeling of pride for the country that I am a member and citizen of. GO United States of America!

After admiring all of the monuments we decided to go on a tour through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. That was very sobering. You walk in and are given a card. The card represents someone that lost their life as part of the Holocaust. The name that I was given was of a young boy named George Pick that as born in Budapest Hungary. I will have to blog about that later and share his story. It was incredible to watch the history of the war and the mass killings. It is so hard to believe that there were so few people that said that they didn't want to be a part of such a horrible thing.

Once the museum kicked us out, remember they all close at 5:30, we headed over to Georgetown to get some dinner and go see a movie. One of our friends went to get tickets for the new James Bond movie, and we wanted to eat before the show. We went out to also join in on a celebration of one of Andy's friends, David. He wanted to go to tepinyake, or the Japanese grill where they cook the food in front of you. It was a good dinner in all. Then to the movie.

NOTE - If you haven't seen the new James Bond, Quantum of Solace, you should watch the previous movie first so that you understand what is going on. This is basically a direct continuation of the previous movie, which is weird for a James Bond film.

Day 4 - Monday November 17th

This was a normal work day for Andy, so he had to get up and go to the office to go to work. I got up when he left though and started packing and getting ready to go tour the US Capital Buildings. I cleaned up and headed out to meet up with Andy for a tour.

When I got to his Office, Andy gave me the tourist stickers and pins and things. We then proceeded to the basement of his building where we took the top secret train that goes to the capital building. It was kind of fun being an outside but doing things the way that the insiders do things. =0)

The capital was really fun to see. I have never been through it before, so it was great to see. It was kind of fun to think of the men that had walked the same corridors that I was walking, and all the history that had been made in that building. As we walked through the tour, Any did a good job sharing informative information about everything. I wish that I remember it all, but I was kind of in an aww at the fact that I was really there. It was really pretty though.

After touring the Capital building, the next building that was on our tour was the Library of Congress. I had never really thought about visiting the Library of Congress, but it was a very elegant building. It was built of marble and was really pretty inside. We spent some time in there, going through several of the rooms and admiring the beautiful art and sculptures.

After that we headed down the road to see the Supreme Court Building. Andy had never been in there, so it was new territory for both of us. Once we entered the building, we realized that court was not in session, and that there was a little tour that you could take that would take you into the actual courtroom. We had a while before the next one started, so we just walked around for a little bit, looking at the statues again.

Once it was time for the next tour, we jumped in line, and headed into the court room. It was a beautiful room. Marble all around, with large red drapes. The murals on the walls and ceilings were what we talked about most of the time while we were in there. They were really incredible though. It was fun to see. Much more elegant than the old room that they used to use that was located inside the Capital building.

That was the end of the tour, so we headed to eat in the cafeteria located below Andy's office I believe. We had Pizza for the 50th time that weekend, but it was good Pizza. After that I went to check-out of the tour and then head back to the Apartment to get my luggage and head to the airport to go home... always the worst part of the trip.

It was interesting navigating the Metro alone, but I made it without getting lost. There were several escalators that were broken that I had to haul my luggage down and up, but not too many. Finally at the airport, I was hoping to be able to travel in first class, since I was using a buddy pass with Delta, but there was a flight that had been canceled earlier, and the flight was pretty full. I finally got a seat assignment from the not so happy lady working the counter, and happily entered the airplane, just glad for a seat on a non-stop plane to SLC.

I got home earlier than I had anticipated, and had time to unpack and then go to bed in decent time so that I could get up for work in the morning, the worst part of coming home.

It took me a while to finally sit down and throw all of this together, but I kept telling myself that I had to. Hope you enjoyed it, I know I did! =0]

Thanks Andy for being an awesome friend and tour guide...

SNOW !?!?!

2008-11-05T18:44:00.002-07:00

I hate it!

So I took a picture of my cold white snow-covered house this morning, but I can't find the cable to get the picture downloaded to my computer... If I were the cable I would have taken off to be somewhere warmer, somewhere where I could maybe enjoy the weather without having to put on 50 layers of clothing before leaving the house.

Who wanted to live in Utah anyway? I didn't agree to this!

Obama for President...

2008-11-04T21:03:00.012-07:00

- America has Chosen Wisely! -

I know, I know... I live in Utah! What am I doing supporting Obama?

Well McCain ran an ugly campaign, and votes with Bush "90% of the time" so I don't want him in the White House. He did however give a very nice final speech, in fact it was better than any speech that he gave during his campaign. That is a weird campaign plan...?

Oh well, we will soon have a good man in the White House. Go Obama!

***YES WE CAN***

- Quote found in ABC News -

2008-11-04T18:41:00.004-07:00

Yay, I got out and Voted. I voted first thing this morning on my way to work. It took about 45 minutes and was as slick as it could have been.

I am now watching the results on the Internet and on the TV. Crazy stuff! It looks like Obama has taken several key states, this could be fun...

2008 Band Tour

2008-11-03T21:14:00.008-07:00

After a long over-night bus ride we finally arrived in California. We had lunch and quickly cleaned up to get ready to go to Universal Studios.

Day 1: Universal Studios
At Universal Studios we rode all the rides that we wanted to. It was a weekday, so the lines were pretty short. My favorite was probably the Mummy and the Simpson's ride. We were also able to drive by Wysteria Lane, the set used to film the Desperate Housewives television series. We had a good time and the weather was perfect!

Day 2: Disneyland and Main Street Parade
Friday October 31st we loaded the busses with instruments and performance gear and headed to the happiest place on earth! Disneyland =0] We played around in the parks until about 2:00 when we had to meet in Mickey's Toon Town where we were taken backstage to prepare for a parade down main street.

It was fun finally going back stage, but it was true that the magic stops at the gate...

After everyone changed and warmed up, it was time for the parade. It was a short parade, but it was a blast for the students. I waited at Main Street Square where the band to pass so that I could do backstage again to chaperone all of the students that we were with. They did a great job and once again I think that it was a really great experience for the band members!

Here are some of the pictures that I was able to snap:

Banner followed by the Color Guard

Drum Majors followed by the
Pleasant Grove High School Marching Band

Drum line and the director; "Mr B"

Day 3: Riverside Community College Marching Bank Competition
Today we woke up early, loaded the busses, and headed to Riverside Community College for the Marching Band Competition. We got everything ready and started warmups. At about noon we headed to a warm-up area in preparation for the competition.

I didn't get any pictures of the competition because I was helping get setup on the field, but from where I sat it looked like the band did a great job. In the end though we didn't end up bringing any awards home. We were given a video of the competition and we could see that the students kind of fell apart a couple times and the energy wasn't there that should have been. They didn't suck, but it wasn't the best competition. Oh well, it was still fun.

Once the high schools were done with their competitions, the RCC Marching Band took to the field to give us a show. This was the 25th anniversary of the school or the competition so the team did a Beatles compilation, which was incredible. I wanted to watch it so I didn't get video. I did get a clip of the Drum Line after the show as the awards were being prepared. Check the video out below. It is a low quality recording, but it was a great performance for the drum team.

Medieval Times - For dinner we headed to the Anaheim Medieval Times dinner and show. We were assigned to cheer for the Yellow knight as seen below in the picture.

The Yellow Knight, Our Knight...

The show was really fun and we had a good time.

Day 4: Drive Home
Today we took off at about 9 and headed home. We stopped every couple of hours for bathroom breaks, so the trip took a while. It started to get cold and that is how I knew that we were getting close =0[ (i hate the cold, fyi) We finally got home late Sunday night/Monday morning, and I just went home to go to bed and go to work the following day. =0)

Fun tour, I think that everyone had a good time, and we didn't have any huge issues, Yay for a good tour! =0)

California... Here We Come!

2008-10-27T18:33:00.006-06:00

Well it is time for Marching Band tour again. I didn't know if I was going to be able to go, but it looks like last minute I was able to go. We aren't leaving till Wednesday night, but I have a lot to do to get ready to I figured I would drop this in while I was avoiding my homework, oops!

I went last year for the first time and it was a blast. Mostly because I had great kids that I was in charge of (some may argue that the drum line guys are difficult... Not last year! They were great) and because of the other great chaperones that were able to come. This year will be a different crowd, but we should still have a blast!

Itinerary:

Disneyland (of course) from 8:00am through 12:00 am (midnight)
Disneyland parade performance (Small World to Town Square)
Universal Studios (haven't been there in a long time?)
Riverside Community College Big Orange Classic Competition
Medieval Times dinner and show (this will be a first)
And of course one hell of a bus ride (with tons of high school students...)

So we should have a good time, and I hope to get some pictures posted this year. I am really excited about the Riverside College Competition. They did an incredible show. Check this out:

I was there to see that show, it was an incredible show. So many talented students out there. I guess this is the marching band that it used in movies quite often since they are so close to Hollywood. It was fun to see and I can't wait for this year's show.

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-26T21:41:00.005-06:00

Well today after visiting with my dad and helping my brother move a bunch of pre-wedding gifts to a storage facility, I went to visit my old adopted high school family! They were so good to me while I was in high school, and still continue to dish it out today, THEY ROCK!

Anyway, I was invited to a Pumpkin Carving party, how cool is that? Since I had another friend that gave me a couple tiny pumpkin plants earlier this spring, I was even able to supply my own home-grown pumpkins, I just brought two (but they were among the largest pumpkins at the party).
I carved the "Egg Head" on the left, and my friend Bobbie carved the crazy design on the right there. You may notice that there is a cool little mouse character in her design, that could be why she choose it? ;)

Oh yeah, Daisy was a great help too with the pumpkins, not Daisy the Dog (she helped with the door bell though)!

And the Final Product of the night. A new design that I had never seen is that of the pumpkin on the top right. It was really tough, so Art used a drill to drill a bunch of holes in it and called it good... They were thinking of calling it a Disco Pumpkin, pretty creative though!

Thanks to my Adopted High School Family,
Love you guys!

My Front Yard

2008-10-26T14:37:00.002-06:00

So I mentioned a long time ago that I was working on my front yard landscaping. Well here is a shot of what I did with the help of my dad and my younger brother Brad.

I did this all over fall break weekend when I didn't have to do homework. =0) Who needs free time anyway...
And if you look closely you can see the pumpkins that I grew in my garden! =0) I know, I am a geek...

Utah Shakespearean Festival

2008-10-05T17:53:00.013-06:00

This week I was able to spend a week out of the office.

I spent the first three days down in Richfield, UT on Snow College campus with the UEN UtahSAINT (Utah Educators Network - Security Advisory and Incident Network Team). I went down with a couple guys from my office. The conference covered most of the network security issues that educators are seeing in the state. There were several proposals of what can be done to help protect UEN Networks and prevent unauthorized access to networking devices.

Now for the fun part... =0]

Thursday morning I met at Pleasant Grove High School with the Shakespeak Drama Team. We gathered and jumped on a charter bus and headed to Cedar City, UT for the Utah Shakespeare Festival High School Competition. we went down with some great scenes from some of the great Shakespeare writings.

We actually ended up taking home only one trophy (Duo Dance I believe), but we should have taken several other awards, but the judges were on LSD (we just don't have proof), and we were outscored by some freaking weird ensemble scenes that had nothing to do with the competition. It is sad, but the judges do what they want.

While we were down there though we were able to go to two of the current shows. The first show that we went to was Moonlight and Magnolias which is a hilarious play about the writing of the script for Gone with the Wind. The second show that we went to was Gaslight which is a suspenseful show full of mystery, murder, and memories. They were both great shows and I think that all of the students had a great time.

Something really cool the the group had the opportunity to do was talk with Fred Adams, the founder and executive producer of the Utah Shakespeare festival. we met in the Randall L. Jones Theatre, in a room that is seldom visited by High School Students. I don't remember the name of the room, but it was incredible, usually only reserved for VIP high donors. The items in the room were several hundred if not thousand of years old. It was immaculate!

Fred was great with the students, sharing stories and life long lessons that he has learned and lived. He was fun to listen to and gave a great presentation to the students.

Overall is was a great opportunity for the students and chaperones alike. I think that we all had a good time even though we didn't win everything that we were planning and hoping to win.

Kaiden

2008-09-06T12:46:00.010-06:00

Today I made a fun little trip to Spanish Fork for the baptism of my oldest handsome little nephew, Kaiden.

I don't have a lot of time to write because I have to finish landscaping my front yard (check back later) before classes start on Monday. Here are some of the pictures, there are a lot, but I was asked to document the services for family living far far away. We missed the family, but are glad to share through my blog.

Congratulations once again to a Great little guy!

Kaiden getting ready for the service

Uncle Clay, Kaiden, and Kelly

Kaiden with grandma and grandpa Creer

Grandma and Grandpa Liston

My Back Yard

2008-08-20T18:09:00.012-06:00

Well, I just got tired of doing homework, so what better way to waste time and still be productive? POST a Blog!

In this blog I will travel to my back yard... to pick dinner.

Here is a shot that I just took of the corner of my little garden. If you look close you will see some pretty huge tomato plants, jalepeno & bell petters, corn, and the hidden sunflower plants.

Here is the first ear of corn out of my yard. MMMmmmmm

And here is the cleanup of the fresh home-grown corn (which was delicious by the way). Daisy decided to help make sure that the cob was clean, Good bird!

The Subway (Zions National Park)

2008-08-16T13:02:00.015-06:00

Well some like to call this a "hike" but it is so much more than a hike. I would consider it a slick-rock, repelling, swimming, rock-climbing, awesome, obstacle course that you have to climb 500 vertical feet up a mountain to complete. I had no clue what to expect, and it wasn't what I thought that it was. The description said that it was an Extreme hike, and that it was.

You start off by following a "trail" (slick rock with karens leading the way) to the bottom of a canyon. Once you get to the bottom, that is when the fun begins.

Obstacle 1 - Huge boulder:

On one side there was little trickle of water falling 20' into a slimy pool of water that we had no intention of getting into (we were still dry). On the other side there was a cliff and a space set where you could repel 18 feet to a sand bar. The repel was not vertical though, it was more of a horizontal repel. Well Jennifer went first, and then we all followed in suite making it over the first obstacle. (the easier way would have been to repel down the front of the boulder, perhaps next time...)

I didn't have pictures of these obstacles, so I am using the pictures off of the Zions National Park web page and photo album, just imagine my face in there somewhere... =0)

Obstacle 2 - Short swim through two long pools:

Did I mention that I didn't bring a dry bag like the instructions recommended? Well I made the swim with my backpack, and everything actually seemed to stay pretty dry. Oh, and the water was super cold, which felt good because by this time we were all ready for a nice cool refreshing swim.

Obstacle 3 - Keyhole Falls:

This one was interesting because the falls is just the first part of the obstacle. You have to repel down a 10' water fall, navigate deep water holes, then swim through a deep pool, slip through the "key hole" (I had to take my pack off to even fit through, hence the name), swim around a corner, slide up a slippery rock like a seal, and then carefully walk to the beach (Oh and the water at this point was past the refreshing point, it was just damn cold).

Oh, and once again I did this all with my back pack and it just so happened that as I got out of the water my bag weighed about 50 pounds heavier than it did before I made the swim. I drained the water though, and everything seemed ok, a little damp, but ok.

Obstacle 4 - Second and larger water fall (decaying log)

This one was actually a little scary. The trail ends at a cliff, and hikers are required to crawl over an old decaying log that looks like it could fall any second. We opted to crawl over the slick-rock above the water fall (over a 30 foot drop). I was the first in our group to go this way, and I found out that it was really slippery while wearing wet shoes, Jen did it after I did with no problems, but I ended up sliding down a bit. Good thing I was wearing my swimming suit that would wash out!

Once we were over on the other side of the waterfall, there is a hook in the rocks that we hooked the rope to that would allow us to repel down a 30' cliff with wet rocks waiting at the bottom. In the end we all did it without major problems, but it was interesting trying to make it all work. Once again, quite the experience!

Once we were done with this obstacle we were done with the difficult obstacles, well at least until the last one... Once we were done with these though we should have started to enjoy the water a little more than we did. We found some of the fun cascade falls and slid down them like water slides. We took pictures of this, but Jennifer had those pictures and I will add them later.

One of the famous items of this adventure is the dinosaur tracks just along side the river after all of the obstacles. The tracks reside in two huge slabs of rock. I have seen dinosaur tracks before, and you usually have to look for a while and spray them with water to see the imprints, not these tracks. They are as obvious as if the dinosaurs walked across it yesterday. The detail was so fine that you could see the claws at the end of the toes.

From this point all we wanted to do was get to the car, little did we know that we should have been hoping for death...

Well this nice little diagram shown above, depicts the altitude change of the entire hike/course. If you will examine it carefully, you may notice that most of the hike is downhill except for one little tiny little quarter mile part of the trail. Well it just so turns out that in the little quarter of a mile we climbed up a 500 wall of fallen rock to get up on top of the cliffs where we parked. This was basically like climbing a 500 foot vertical cliff with only your legs, OUCH!

Well, we finally all made it to the car that was sitting 500 feet above where I think it should have been. Even though we had to hike out of the canyon, this adventure was incredible. I plan on doing it again, but this time we are going to enjoy some of the water features a little more. Oh, and I will bring a dry bag for my back-pack like they recommended on the web page... =0)

Great experience! Must do if you are the adventurous type.

New York City 2008

2008-05-27T23:23:00.001-06:00

Well I am now planning and starting to pack for my next trip to NYC with the high school Drama team. Ok, so all I really have to do is pack because the drama teacher is incredible and has scheduled everything for us already. We are going to have a Blast! See all the stuff below!

NYC Sites:
- monday -
Empire State Building at Night

- tuesday -
Liberty Island (lady Liberty)
Ellis Island
Ground Zero
China Town
Bodies the exhibit
SHOW: Young Frankenstein (SWEET!, I can't wait...)

- wednesday -
SHOW: The country Girl, staring Morgan Freeman! Really!
Times Square
SHOW: Hamlet in Central Park

- thursday -
Mass and Tour of St. Patrick's Cathedral
Rockefeller Center
Tour of Lincoln center
SHOW: Cat on a hot Tin Roof, Staring tons of famous people!

- friday -
Museum of Natural History
Radio City Music Hall tour, should be setting up for the Tony's
SHOW: South Pacific @ the Lincoln Center

-Saturday -
Matinee performance of the Ballet
Air Train & JFK Airport
SLC Airport =0-(

Then we are home.

Well I will see if I can take some pictures and post them this time, but no promises, K!

Well, I have been busy...

2008-05-27T23:07:00.004-06:00

I don't know how people do this! I don't have time to post anything about the awesome cruise that I just went on. I guess I posted the itinerary, well we went to all of those places. we dove four times (two days of two-tank dives and I just about died once(don't loose your weight belt while you are diving, not a good idea)).

The ship was incredible as always. It was huge. Biggest ship that I have cruised yet. It was older though, you could see the wear and tear on the deck and some of the carpet, but it was still nice. We will have to choose a newer and bigger ship next time. The entertainment was interesting if you like seeing butts. We called it the butt show because the dancers were very good at showing off their nice butts that they work so hard keeping, well nice...

The flight home was much better then the flight to PR, so no stories there. The weather in Utah has been sucky, and while until just this week hasn't really even been warm. I haven't pulled out my motorcycle yet this year. I usually start riding it in march or april, but not this year. Too cold and too much snow.

April 10 - Flight from Hell

2008-04-23T09:27:00.005-06:00

Well in an effort to try and keep it somwhat short I am going to summarize our flight information on our way out to Puerto Rico on April 10th. I was traveling with 3 other PGHS teachers (Amy Smithson (math teacher), Kacey Kendrick (art teacher), & Vince Burgoyne(band director)).

Wednesday April 9th:

We were originally scheduled to fly out on AA (American Airlines) leaving on April 10th at 9:30 am.
We got a report letting us know that the flight was canceled.
An AA attendant re-scheduled us to fly out on DELTA leaving Friday morning at 9:30.
We called back to see if there was any way to leave on Thursday as to not loose a full day of fun in PR (Puerto Rico).
We were re-scheduled to fly out on SKY WEST leaving at 10:30 on April 10th.

Thursday April 10th:

We arrived at the airport Thursday Morning just after 6:00 because didn't want to miss our flights.
We were dropped off at Terminal 2 and started looking for Sky West check-in
Sky West doesn't exist, at the check-in counter, so we called and they said that we were scheduled to fly out on a CONTINENTAL Flight.
We traveled over to Terminal 1 to check-in with Continental.
They didn't even have any flights running this early.
The Continental guy said to go back to DELTA and check-in with them.
Went back to Terminal 2 to check in with Delta.
Waited in line for about 50 minutes and finally got to an agent.
She couldn't see us on any flights leaving thursday, so she called an AA attendant.
AA had us scheduled to leave Friday afternoon at 1:50 on a DELTA Flight.
Delta attendant dismissed us and told us to go wait in line to talk to an AA attendant.
Went BACK to Terminal 1 to wait in the line for one of the two AA attendants that were working at the desk, TWO and the line was forever long with ticked off travelers...

Go figure

I called Travelocity to see if there was anything that they could do, but I don't speak Indian so I wasn't able to get anything setup.
I did find out though that Travelocity had us scheduled to fly out Friday morning at 11 :30 on DELAT headed through Atlanta...?

After about an hour of waiting in line (or 10 feet in the line) an AA worker approached us and made sure that we knew that all AA flights had been canceled.
We told her that we knew flights had been canceled, and then what we had already been through.
She pulled Amy aside while I talked on the phone, and ABC News interviewed Vince about our experiences so far.
Amy appeared about 30 minutes later asking if we wouldn't mind flying to Denver, then to Philadelphia, then to San Juan PR. We all just wanted to get the H out of utah!
Amy left; telling us to watch her for a signal to run to Frontier for a quick check-in.

She gave the sign at about 9:30, and we all took off to Frontier headed to Denver, CO.
Once in Denver we would check-in with US Air to fly to Philadelphia, PA and then to San Juan, PR.

We ended up flying out of SLC at about 10:30.
Once we were in Denver we ran clear across the airport to check-in with US Air.
The US AIR Attendant said the the flight that we were booked on was actually a United flight, even though it said US Air on the tickets.
We ran across the airport again headed to UNITED AIRLINES check-in.
The lady at United was great, and gave us boarding passes for the final two flights.
We waited in Denver till about 7:00pm then boarded the flight to Philadelphia PA. We arrived there shortly after midnight.
Once in philadelphia we headed to the International terminal
We slept on the ground because our next flight left at 7:30 in the morning

Did I mention that they were testing the Fire Alarms that night in the Philadelphia airport? That was a treat!

Friday April 11th

Friday morning we woke up to scattered travelers coming into the terminal.
We headed to a french bistro for breakfast and then waited for our plane to board.
The plane boarded at about 7:00 am,
We had a decent flight into San Juan.
We arrived in San Juan about 35 hours after we had arrived in the SLC airport having been booked on 8 different airlines (American, Delta, Sky West, Continental, Delta, Frontier, US Airways, and finally United Airlines).
We went to get out luggage, and...
You guessed it, Not there.
We checked in with the United Luggage guy, and he said that he would call us if it arrived on the next flight from Philadelphia.
We headed to the rental car agency, got the car and headed to the hotel and lunch.
They called us about a hour later while we were eating lunch and let us know that the luggage had arrived and would be at the hotel an hour later.
We all headed to the hotel for a nap and a shower and waited for our luggage which finally arrived as scheduled.
WE WERE THERE!!! Finally and Wahoo!

American Airlines! =0(

2008-04-09T23:04:00.004-06:00

They just canceled our flights and wasted hours and hours of our time.

First of all they wanted us to fly out on Friday morning when we were scheduled to fly out tomorrow (thursday) morning. What?!? Ummmm, NO!

So I had to call AA, and after waiting on hold for a half an hour I was able to talk to an intelligent patient smart super woman that was able to find us another flight that left just after the original flight on Thursday morning.

So we are headed out first thing in the morning, thanks to my hero. I just wish I could remember her name, Oh well. Thanks Anonymous AA phone answerer! You saved the day (literally)!!!

Getting ready for the Cruise!

2008-04-08T22:40:00.006-06:00

Well here I am just finishing up on packing for the trip. We are leaving in about 24 hours, but I know that I have a TON to do before then with work and homework. Priorities, right? LOL

I found this cool site though that lists everything that you need to pack for a Cruise. Pretty dang cool! So I will have to post pictures (hope the camera works well underwater) in about two weeks. Wish you were all out there with me, perhaps next time! =0)

Au revoir Amis,

2008-03-31T22:36:00.003-06:00

This week I have the chance to do something NEW and Exciting that I haven't done before. I am helping run microphones at Pleasant Grove High School for an incredible musical production that is being put on my the Drama Productions class.

The show is titled "Once on This Island." It is a musical that is kind of a weird mix between Romeo and Juliette and the Little Mermaid (you will have to some see it). You can read more about it on Wikipedia if you want, but it is a fun show.

Tonight was the first night, and we just finished installing 4 new (rented) wireless mics, and sadly they didn't blend like we had hoped. I think that we should have had them here saturday for the double rehearsal, but oh well. We worked through the problems and I know that tomorrow will be a much better performance as far as sound goes...

The actors were incredible though, they did a great job. I feel bad that we (TECH) were not able to help them show off their talents more. I hope that the problems were too distracting, but from my seat it was as good as a dress rehearsal (but then I know each problem that we had tonight).

Anyway, so if you are in town and want to come see a good show, Pleasant Grove High School starting each night at 7:00 (only 90 minutes long). Come and enjoy,

ChoirTour 08 (PGHS)

2008-03-20T19:31:00.010-06:00

Yay, I just got back from Choir tour where I was a chaperone for some of the best students that went. There were 150 total people on the tour (130 students, 20 chaperones). The director took three choirs; Advanced Women's Choir, Acapella Choir, and Chamber. They were all incredible.

Well, to start the trip we took a 14 hour bus ride, and thankfully I don't have any pictures because I think that I slept most of the time. We ended up eating breakfast in a Mc Donalds where we also cleaned up and changed into real clothing.

I am going to run through each day one at a time as I get time, but here are some of my favorite pictures:

So, I just bought a camera...

2008-03-06T21:43:00.005-07:00

Now I don't have any excuse to not post pictures, right?

Well here's the short story:
I dropped into Best Buy to take a camera home. I did know if I wanted the Olympus Stylus 770 or 790 (The 770 can be taken 30 feet under water while the 790 can only be take 10 ft underwater).

I decided on the 790 since it had better "Above Water" features like face recognition and stuff. I saw that the demo they had was some weird orange color, and I wanted the black one (like one of the pictures that said was available). The "guy" said that they only had the orange model and that they would have to order the different colored cameras in from somewhere. It would be here in a week. So I headed home to order it on-line and see if they could send it to my house before Tuesday (oh yeah, I am going to California on choir tour). Once on-line I noticed that this color wasn't even listed. Frustration, Stress... Done with Best Buy, buuu bye!

So I decide to try Circuit City, search for the camera, find it on the site, and Jump for joy because it was on sale for $50.00 off, WahOO! Searched for a memory card, and the price was less than half of what Best Buy wanted (I LOVE Circuit City!).

Then to make things even better, during check-out they note that the store in Orem has both of these items in stock and that I can opt to drop by tomorrow to pick them up if I wanted to. Yes I want to, that rocks!

So I get a new camera tomorrow. Just in time for the trip to California. Wahoo!

Moral of the story...
Check with Circuit City before you spend money at Best Buy!
Go Circuit City

Camera Features:

7.1-megapixel: The high-resolution image sensor delivers superior quality for larger prints without sacrificing detail.

Zoom: The precision-crafted 3x optical zoom Olympus lens delivers sharper, clearer images and brings you closer to the action without taking a step. This lens has a 35mm equivalent of 38-114 mm.

2.5” LCD screen: The HyperCrystal™ LCD provides an extra-wide viewing angle and anti-glare technology that make it easy to compose and shoot. Plus, it lets you share photos with family and friends even in bright, direct sunlight.

Digital image stabilization: High ISO sensitivity and faster shutter speeds team up to freeze the action and capture sharp, blur-free images.

Face detection: This camera tracks faces within the frame and automatically focuses and optimizes exposure for sharp, brilliant photos.

Shock-absorbing design: Accidents happen, but the Shockproof Stylus 790 SW is nearly accident proof. A rugged metal body and revolutionary shock-absorbing construction are designed to withstand a 5-foot drop, bump or other mishap.

Waterproof: Take it swimming, snorkeling or to the water park. The revolutionary system of waterproof seals and gaskets keeps water out, so you can take movies and pictures as deep as 10 feet.

All-weather design: It's the ideal camera for the slopes and sledding with the kids, because it's winterized to perform at below-freezing temperatures (hope I don't ever need that feature...)(-10°C/14°F).

Shadow Adjustment technology: You'll capture smiles, even in backlight scenes. And you'll pick up detail, even in the shadows cast by bright sunlight.

Advanced image processing: Developed for the professional digital SLR, the TruePic™ III Image Processor redefines image quality by delivering true-to-life color, smoother edges and less noise.

Image preview: Before you take the shot, let Perfect Shot Preview display the effects of various settings including zoom, exposure, white balance and metering—right on the LCD.

Movie modes: Capture spontaneous memories in high-quality video with audio. Shoot 640x480 (VGA) video, with sound, at 30 frames per second (fps).

Memory: This digital camera comes with 14.7MB of internal memory. Get the most out of your camera by adding a 1GB or larger xD™ memory card. How much memory do you need?

Netsec Portfolio

2008-03-03T22:18:00.002-07:00

Well, since I mentioned that I was doing a blog for one of my homework assignments, I guess I may as well post the link. here it is: Portfolio Home

It is still a work in progress, and I probably will not have much time to spend on the "Fun" blog until I get the basics posted in my portfolio. I was really supposed to create a web page, but I figure that this was about 500 gagillion times easier, so here I am.

Well until next time...

Just a sec already

2008-03-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for this blog, how do you expect me to have stuff here alrady, Sheesh...

I really started this blog because I have to set one up for a class that I am in and I figured I would set one up for myself as well. I also have a lot of family and friends that I don't get to see as often as I would like, so I figured this would be good for them as well.

Give me a week or two and I will have some fun content on here though. =0)

-Bryan