So, it may be cliche, but I am a big sports guy. I love football, love soccer, love basketball. I have never been able to get into watching baseball, don't know why, just don't find it interesting, though I love playing (softball). I enjoy playing just about any sport you can come up with. I wish I could have been an adult back in the hay day of church sports. I know church sports have a bad reputation, but I remember going as a family (or at least several of us), to watch my Dad play softball. It was a blast, lots of people came to watch, and there were always enough people to field teams. That's my biggest pet peeve about church sports now. I think my generation of adults is too busy watching T.V. or playing computer games, or just sitting on their can to get out and play sports. (Don't get me wrong, I love watching TV and playing computer games, but I love playing sports even more).
I don't have a lot of opportunity anymore. For a brief moment, I got to play some indoor soccer last year, which was awesome. I've been thinking about seeing about the possibility of doing that again. I know Mark would be in, I think we could get Will to play on a team, Mark probably knows a couple guys that would play, and I have a ward that had 38 guys play basketball this last year, with that number, I would hope I could stand up in priesthood, ask, and get at least 2 or 3 guys who were seriously interested in playing. I don't know what the cost would be, but I have some practically unused indoor soccer shoes, and I want to play.
I also am an avid fan of sports. Currently the Jazz are in a playoff series with the Lakers, tied 2-2. Game 5 is tonight in LA. Man I would love to see us win tonight. I think if we can steal the game tonight in LA, we will win the series in 6 with a win back at home for Game 6. Then, if New Orleans wins, like it seems more and more likely they will. We have a great shot at reaching the NBA finals again, as we own N.O. in basketball.
I am also a Real Salt Lake fan. As I said I love soccer, and this year is the first year of season tickets for Alisa and me. These games have been great. They have yet to lose at home, though they have had two heartbreaking ties there so far. But also three spectacular wins, a combined 12-4 scoring at home. Which is more offense than I ever saw at all the games combined I went to prior to this season. I think we will make it to the playoffs this year, and if the team continues to gel, we could go far.
I know this is getting long, but the team I am getting extremely excited about is BYU football. The cougars have won ten straight games, and they return 10 offensive starters. TEN, that is huge for a team who's offense last year averaged more than 400 yds, and more than 30 pts per game. We return a thousand yard rusher, thousand yard receiver, and a QB that threw for 3900. Can't wait for the fall.
My sports life is going well, very well.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Pet Peeve: Astronomical Selfishness
Let me get some people's responses out of the way, yes, I am sure that I am selfish too. But, I don't do these two things, and they are what I am complaining about today, so deal with it.
Case 1: I was at church on Sunday, imagine that. It was Mother's Day, and our ward decided to bless all of the mothers with a particularly crappy set of speakers. Now, I know that I am sometimes too harsh. I shouldn't judge others based upon their speaking ability, as that is something that many cannot help. HOWEVER, even Alisa thought it was bad, and she can find the silver lining on almost any bad lesson or talk, because she is much less judgemental than I. The first two speakers were merely bad, the final speaker, I wanted to stab in the eye.
He got up to speak with approximately 2 minutes left in the meeting. Granted, this is not his fault, I don't blame him for how late he got up, its totally out of his control (though maybe he should have a talk with his wife about how to STOP TALKING, however after listening to him, he may not be the best person to give that lesson). I looked at the clock and though, alright, he better keep it short, because Hyrum has already had it and Sacrament meeting only has 2 minutes to go. I will forgo complaining about the vast amounts of wildly harsh comments he made that wouldn't have made any mother feel better, and I will even sidestep lambasting him about the reams of false doctrine he taught. Suffice it to say, he finished speaking at 10:30! You read that right, half past ten. Hyrum had screamed himself to sleep by this time, which I highly envied.
My pet peeve. This guy felt like his talk was more important than any lesson that any sunday school teacher had prepared, or priesthood and relief society. Not to mention the problems caused in Primary by the huge chunk taken out of the schedule. Nooooo, his incredible thoughts were much more important than those, not to mention the people with little kids who can already hardly make it through the entire sacrament service, let alone an extra twenty minutes. Yeah. Pure selfishness. sprinkled liberally with arrogance.
Case 2: This has always bothered me, and I'd love to meet a person, individually that does this, so I can vent on them. Saturday night I was at the Real Salt Lake game (we won 2-1 by the way). As we were leaving, I turned to Alisa and said that I can't comprehend how people can just get up, and leave all of their piles of trash at their seat and walk away. I'm flabbergasted. I mean, you walk out right past a garbage can. I am completely astounded by this mindset. If you are one of these people, you are an idiot, pick up your trash, and throw it in the garbage. Great honk.
Case 1: I was at church on Sunday, imagine that. It was Mother's Day, and our ward decided to bless all of the mothers with a particularly crappy set of speakers. Now, I know that I am sometimes too harsh. I shouldn't judge others based upon their speaking ability, as that is something that many cannot help. HOWEVER, even Alisa thought it was bad, and she can find the silver lining on almost any bad lesson or talk, because she is much less judgemental than I. The first two speakers were merely bad, the final speaker, I wanted to stab in the eye.
He got up to speak with approximately 2 minutes left in the meeting. Granted, this is not his fault, I don't blame him for how late he got up, its totally out of his control (though maybe he should have a talk with his wife about how to STOP TALKING, however after listening to him, he may not be the best person to give that lesson). I looked at the clock and though, alright, he better keep it short, because Hyrum has already had it and Sacrament meeting only has 2 minutes to go. I will forgo complaining about the vast amounts of wildly harsh comments he made that wouldn't have made any mother feel better, and I will even sidestep lambasting him about the reams of false doctrine he taught. Suffice it to say, he finished speaking at 10:30! You read that right, half past ten. Hyrum had screamed himself to sleep by this time, which I highly envied.
My pet peeve. This guy felt like his talk was more important than any lesson that any sunday school teacher had prepared, or priesthood and relief society. Not to mention the problems caused in Primary by the huge chunk taken out of the schedule. Nooooo, his incredible thoughts were much more important than those, not to mention the people with little kids who can already hardly make it through the entire sacrament service, let alone an extra twenty minutes. Yeah. Pure selfishness. sprinkled liberally with arrogance.
Case 2: This has always bothered me, and I'd love to meet a person, individually that does this, so I can vent on them. Saturday night I was at the Real Salt Lake game (we won 2-1 by the way). As we were leaving, I turned to Alisa and said that I can't comprehend how people can just get up, and leave all of their piles of trash at their seat and walk away. I'm flabbergasted. I mean, you walk out right past a garbage can. I am completely astounded by this mindset. If you are one of these people, you are an idiot, pick up your trash, and throw it in the garbage. Great honk.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Bacon
Okay, I'll admit, its an odd heading. But, I just had some thoughts about bacon, and heck, this is my blog so deal with it. The thoughts were actually brought about by this comic. Many of you have probably seen the recent taco bell, or whatever, commercial where the girl takes a bacon chalupa into a night club to attract men. Its hilarious, in my opinion. Mostly because its true. Bacon makes everything better. Bacon may be the best smell around. Bacon is the unimpeachable argument for the fact that fat is what gives meat its wonderful flavor.
Bacon is a slab of pig fat.
I say that for only one reason, to prove how good bacon is, because even if that phrase grosses you out, it won't matter, you'll still eat bacon the next time you have the chance, its just that good.
Mmmmm....bacon.
Bacon is a slab of pig fat.
I say that for only one reason, to prove how good bacon is, because even if that phrase grosses you out, it won't matter, you'll still eat bacon the next time you have the chance, its just that good.
Mmmmm....bacon.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Geek news, and asundry cool stuff.
Okay, there will probably be some who are a little hesitant to think another Incredible Hulk movie can be good. I have heard nothing but bad about the last one, starring Eric Bana, I didn't see it. But, for the doubters, watch this. If you don't have quicktime you may have to download it, but I think the trailer is worth it.
Iron Man comes out today. I soooooo want to see it. If you are into cool movies, try to tell me this doesn't look cool.
This summer looks awesome for movies. Give a look to this, or this.
I'm sure there are more. These four are definitely getting me stoked to go to the movies.
What ones are you looking forward to?
Iron Man comes out today. I soooooo want to see it. If you are into cool movies, try to tell me this doesn't look cool.
This summer looks awesome for movies. Give a look to this, or this.
I'm sure there are more. These four are definitely getting me stoked to go to the movies.
What ones are you looking forward to?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Going Green with Blue Sky
So, I signed Alisa and myself up for Rocky Mountain Power's blue sky program this morning. I had gotten our electric bill, and after having heard and read about the program, got online to sign up. So, based on our last bill in which we used 431 kwh (kilowatt hours), 23% of our electricity is now wind based.
So, to explain the blue sky program in a bit more depth. For anyone who has Rocky Mountain Power (which I believe you would, if you get electricity in Utah), you can sign up for the blue sky program which requires RMP to purchase a certain amount of your power via wind energy. You can purchase it in 100 kwh blocks, for 1.95 each. I signed up for one block, though we may up it to more. Based on April, for 8 dollars more than 90% of our home's electricity would come from wind power. I think that is rather neat. This is how it works. You buy a block of wind power. RMP then buys that amount of electricity from one of about ten wind farms in the intermountain west and pacific northwest. There are a few in WY a huge one in Montana, etc.. So, the more people that purchase the blue sky, the more wind power RMP buys, in turn spawning the expansion of wind farms to meet the need of the consumer. Consumer driven environmentalism, my favorite kind.
Some will say, Yeah, but you pay more for it. You're right. I do. And for now, I'm okay with that. Not to overdramatize it, but I think the reliance on burning coal for electricity is one of the single most detrimental things we could be doing as a society. No, not because I buy into global warming. But that discussion aside, I don't find mining coal, then burning it (with all the vast amounts of by products that creates), to be wise stewardship.
Of all the options currently on the table, wind power is my favorite. I wish we would build several massive wind farms here in UT. One great place would be up in the high mountain valleys right before you get to Cedar City. Alisa and I were driving through there on one of my many interviews once, and I mentioned, man, it is always windy here. Turns out, I was right. (for those who may not know, click the word right that is highlighted, it'll take you to a cool map that shows average annualized wind in the U.S. See all that dark blue? Build wind farms there.)
Now, I believe that solar is the way of the future, as it is almost solely based on technology, and as technology advances, so will our ability to adequately and effeciently trap that energy. It was one idea of Pete Ashdown's that I could totally get behind, solar forests in Utah's west desert.
Anyway, I'm heading off on lots of tangents, but suffice it to say, I am stoked to be a part of this, and may buy a couple more kwh blocks. I think the idea of environmentalism has been too long taken by nutjobs and fringe elements. I like this planet, I enjoy the outdoors, and I hate our inversions. I also know that I have a responsibility to be a wise steward. So, no, I don't want to spike trees, or stop you from building a home because of a rare sub-species of field mouse. But, I would like alternate energy to take over the archaic coal and petroleum monopolized energy industry.
So, to explain the blue sky program in a bit more depth. For anyone who has Rocky Mountain Power (which I believe you would, if you get electricity in Utah), you can sign up for the blue sky program which requires RMP to purchase a certain amount of your power via wind energy. You can purchase it in 100 kwh blocks, for 1.95 each. I signed up for one block, though we may up it to more. Based on April, for 8 dollars more than 90% of our home's electricity would come from wind power. I think that is rather neat. This is how it works. You buy a block of wind power. RMP then buys that amount of electricity from one of about ten wind farms in the intermountain west and pacific northwest. There are a few in WY a huge one in Montana, etc.. So, the more people that purchase the blue sky, the more wind power RMP buys, in turn spawning the expansion of wind farms to meet the need of the consumer. Consumer driven environmentalism, my favorite kind.
Some will say, Yeah, but you pay more for it. You're right. I do. And for now, I'm okay with that. Not to overdramatize it, but I think the reliance on burning coal for electricity is one of the single most detrimental things we could be doing as a society. No, not because I buy into global warming. But that discussion aside, I don't find mining coal, then burning it (with all the vast amounts of by products that creates), to be wise stewardship.
Of all the options currently on the table, wind power is my favorite. I wish we would build several massive wind farms here in UT. One great place would be up in the high mountain valleys right before you get to Cedar City. Alisa and I were driving through there on one of my many interviews once, and I mentioned, man, it is always windy here. Turns out, I was right. (for those who may not know, click the word right that is highlighted, it'll take you to a cool map that shows average annualized wind in the U.S. See all that dark blue? Build wind farms there.)
Now, I believe that solar is the way of the future, as it is almost solely based on technology, and as technology advances, so will our ability to adequately and effeciently trap that energy. It was one idea of Pete Ashdown's that I could totally get behind, solar forests in Utah's west desert.
Anyway, I'm heading off on lots of tangents, but suffice it to say, I am stoked to be a part of this, and may buy a couple more kwh blocks. I think the idea of environmentalism has been too long taken by nutjobs and fringe elements. I like this planet, I enjoy the outdoors, and I hate our inversions. I also know that I have a responsibility to be a wise steward. So, no, I don't want to spike trees, or stop you from building a home because of a rare sub-species of field mouse. But, I would like alternate energy to take over the archaic coal and petroleum monopolized energy industry.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Qwest vs. Comcast
Many of you have already heard this, but this is were I put such rants, so deal with it.
Alisa and I moved recently, about two months ago. We had Qwest previously, and just transferred our number to the new house, and added 'high-speed' internet to our package. Well, I'll short story it for you. The service was horrible, the modem was delivered to our 'side door' which for UPS apparently means stuffed under our garbage can lid on the side of the house. I spent literally hours on the phone with Qwest customer service and in the end basically was left with, sorry, sounds like your problem not ours.
I now have Comcast. No, I don't get commision for this post, but I love it. Our phone is much much better now. My internet went from clocking at 250-500kbps to over 3000kbps. And, I got cable. The comcast guy who came and installed our stuff was very nice to Alisa, and even went so far as to fix the giant mess of phone wires in our laundry room that had been left by Bob Vila's home improvements. The following evening Comcast support called me and walked me through all the aspects of my new phone and internet services.
The difference is night and day, not only in the quality of the product, but in the quality (and actual existance) of customer relations.
I love my comcast.
Alisa and I moved recently, about two months ago. We had Qwest previously, and just transferred our number to the new house, and added 'high-speed' internet to our package. Well, I'll short story it for you. The service was horrible, the modem was delivered to our 'side door' which for UPS apparently means stuffed under our garbage can lid on the side of the house. I spent literally hours on the phone with Qwest customer service and in the end basically was left with, sorry, sounds like your problem not ours.
I now have Comcast. No, I don't get commision for this post, but I love it. Our phone is much much better now. My internet went from clocking at 250-500kbps to over 3000kbps. And, I got cable. The comcast guy who came and installed our stuff was very nice to Alisa, and even went so far as to fix the giant mess of phone wires in our laundry room that had been left by Bob Vila's home improvements. The following evening Comcast support called me and walked me through all the aspects of my new phone and internet services.
The difference is night and day, not only in the quality of the product, but in the quality (and actual existance) of customer relations.
I love my comcast.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Jazz Rule
I was previously letting my buddy keep a running commentary up on the Jazz on his blog. But since he is clearly a poser and ended up sucking at the job, I will pick it up now that we've hit the playoffs.
For any that saw the Jazz game on Saturday you'll agree with my in depth analysis...We Rule.
I am going to go ahead and call a sweep on this series. Granted, I'm not the first, several sports pundits are saying its likely so its not like I'm going out on a dangerous limb prediction wise. Its not that Houston can't win any of the games, or even that Houston couldn't still win the whole series. But the Jazz are playing great. If you've watched them the last few weeks of the season, you'll know what I'm talking about. Minus the last game where they lost to San Antonio, and it wasn't even close, they have been handily beating everyone at home, and playing some great ball away, including a quality win in New Orleans.
I have been a Jazz fan forever. And, if Bryan ever gets his keester in gear and moves back to Utah, I'll even get season tickets. But, until that day, I will watch and cheer. And continue to tell anyone who wants to listen, that the Jazz can win it all this year.
For any that saw the Jazz game on Saturday you'll agree with my in depth analysis...We Rule.
I am going to go ahead and call a sweep on this series. Granted, I'm not the first, several sports pundits are saying its likely so its not like I'm going out on a dangerous limb prediction wise. Its not that Houston can't win any of the games, or even that Houston couldn't still win the whole series. But the Jazz are playing great. If you've watched them the last few weeks of the season, you'll know what I'm talking about. Minus the last game where they lost to San Antonio, and it wasn't even close, they have been handily beating everyone at home, and playing some great ball away, including a quality win in New Orleans.
I have been a Jazz fan forever. And, if Bryan ever gets his keester in gear and moves back to Utah, I'll even get season tickets. But, until that day, I will watch and cheer. And continue to tell anyone who wants to listen, that the Jazz can win it all this year.
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