Upgrade!

I got a new car!! My poor Saturn had a laundry list of things wrong with it…

• Check engine light has been on pretty much for a year
  

  Damn you light...

• Neither of the back windows worked, and the front ones were getting pretty sticky as well
• There numerous pieces in the trunk that had fallen off, as well as the “Oh Shit” handle in the back seat
• Zip ties were the only thing holding the side of my car on
  

  Zip Ties

• The (giant) scratch from when I was moving into an apartment on my birthday while it was 100+ degrees outside that’s been there for 2 years
  

  Scratch

Although it had it’s problems, I did love that car. For the most part it has been good to me. It was pretty much the only car I have driven. There are many memories in that car. It was time for it to go, winter is on its way and I have places I need to be. That little plastic pile that I called a car wasn’t so happy when it snowed…Good bye 1998 Saturn SL2! You shall be missed.

Poor Poor Saturn

Despite its many problems, we still got $300 for a trade in! I was very surprised. Anyway, on to the new car! It’s a 2001 Subaru Outback, ABS and AWD, which the Saturn did not have and hence struggled in the snow. Definite UPGRADE!

Upgrade!

Slacker

Once again I’m a slacker, and haven’t been updating. Nothing really exciting has been going on. UUuuumm…I got my advanced scuba certification in Wendover last weekend, but the highlight was definitely hanging out with the people in my class on Saturday night. It was so much fun!
Right now it’s fall break and the swim team is going through the hell that is peak week. Luckily this year I only have to watch but it makes me feel super fat and out of shape watching them practice and think how I used to be able to do that and now there’s no way I could.
I’ll be starting a ski conditioning class next week which I think will be fun.
Let’s see…that’s really about it. Just working and schooling and “coaching” the swimmers. It’s weird to think that I graduate in December. It’s only 2 months away. Sigh…I guess I have to grow up someday. I’m going to try to do better at this.

Really.

One Big Update

Allrighty.

I’ve been MIA from here for quite awhile. So here is one big update of the entire summer. I’ve been working all summer. I played water polo also in a league out at Kearns. I’ve also started training for triathlons. Well, I’ve tried. I couldn’t go to the biking practices because it’s on the same day as the water polo games and apparently I’ve pulled a ligament in my knee so when that was hurting I didn’t run too much. But I did compete in the Scofield Tri and I got 2nd in my age group!

I competed in that Tri when my cousin came to visit from Connecticut!!! Finally one of them comes to visit us all the way out here in Utah. It was alot of fun with him out here.

Then my family and I went back to Connecticut with him and stayed there for 2 weeks and also went up to Boston to visit Auntie Anne, my Grammie’s sister. It was so much fun!!!

Now I’m back in school, and have alot of homework already. I’ll have to start going to practices in the mornings to “coach” or whatever I’ll be doing this year with swimming. I’m also still working about 20 hours a week. It’s going to be busy!

I’ll try to update this more. Although I don’t know if many people read this anymore! I’ll also put some pics up for my summer as well…hopefully.

I’m on a Boat!

Now, I am not on a boat by any means right now…In any sense. But I feel that this video has many memories and laughs attached to it so I thought that I should post it on here. Also maybe it will make me smile…

Please Don't Offend Me

In response to: What Offends You?

Flaky People
When I make plans with someone, I intend to keep them. If I can’t come or don’t want to I try to tell them ahead of time so that they can find something else to do. When someone tells me that they aren’t coming somewhere (or waits til I ask where they are), I am very hurt and feel that I am not important to them. If I make plans with someone they are important to me.

Example: I was supposed to drive down to Cali with a good friend of mine during this past spring break. We planned to leave Wednesday morning I think, so I called him Tuesday night to see when we were going to leave. No answer. In the back of my head I’m thinking he left me but I tried to stay positive and convinced myself that he was just out or in bed and didn’t hear it.

I wake up the next morning and call him a couple more times asking where the hell he is and still no answer. Around 11:30, I get a text saying something to the effect of “Sorry my phone is dying and I left on a drunkin whim to vegas last night.” Awesome! Everyone left me here! FUCK! Are you serious?!

Luckily I got a pretty cheap flight out there but I was counting on him since we pretty much planned everything out and then he just bailed. I’m still pretty angry about that…

I don’t know if flaky is the right word but pretty much people who say they are going to do something and then just don’t really piss me off.

People Who Force Their Views on You
aka: politicians, missionaries (sorry my LDS friends…not all missionaires are like this but some are and I don’t like it one bit), people who think they are right no matter what.

If you believe in something, cool. Don’t judge me because I don’t see something the same way and don’t try to make me see it how you do.

Agree to Disagree.

Secret Stripper?

Surprisingly, Pole Dancing! hehe

Here's how I found out:
My friend Mandy is taking a pole dancing class. She had a birthday party that I was invited to and she taught us all some moves. Apparently I'm pretty good hehe. At least that's what they all told me so I'll take it and pretend I'm good at it.

"Just think about [spooning]"

In response to: What word do you hate?

I have a couple:

spooning
I don’t know why…this word just makes me cringe

just think about it
Ok, not really a word but I can’t stand it when people tell me to just think about it when I’m asking for help or don’t understand something. Obviously if I asked I don’t get it!!!!!

:

Pictures!

At long last…I present to you, my photography page!!!! It’s still not quite done but there is definitely more now. I welcome any type of critiquing on my photos, do you like it?, do you not like it? Please tell me why you do or don’t as well! That way I can get better

Also, I have many of my photographic pictures up on my DeviantArt profile. Take a look around there too! There is a feed of what I put up there too———————>

The Absence of Concentration

Here I am at 3:36 on a Friday afternoon at work. I just can’t seem to concentrate. I’ve been spending much of my time on lifehacker, gizmodo, and facebook. Yet, I am still unwilling to force myself away from these time suckers to do actual work today. Maybe it’s because everyone else left? Maybe because it’s Friday? I’m not sure but I just can’t do it today.

In my defense, what I’m working on today just includes alot of waiting. I write some stuff, then I have to wait for it to compile (about 2-3 min), then send that to the box (a dsp that I’m working on at work right now, about another 3 min), then restart it and wait for another program to find it (oh between 3 and 5 minutes), and then I get to watch stuff print out to the screen.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like my job, but this is just one of those things that is tough since I’m working with stuff that I don’t know too much about yet and also (oh the joys of interning) I get to do it because no one else wants to and it will help me learn if they just throw me into the fire and let me flounder a little bit.

Well anyway, it will get better. (I actually made a little headway inbetween typing this…and I’ve used parentheses alot in this post. Weird) So if anyone actually reads this, Thank you! first of all and have a wonderful weekend.

I Never Made It to the NFL

This is the title of a chapter in a book I’m reading called “The Last Lecture”. One of the author’s (Randy Pausch) childhood dreams was to play in the NFL. In this chapter, he talks about a football coach he had when he was a young boy. This coach was a tough one, especially by today’s standards. At least regarding kids his age (I believe he was 9 when he had this coach). I think people are just overprotective and want to get everything in an easy way. Randy says that parents today want to give their children self-esteem. But self-esteem isn’t something that a child, or anyone for that matter, is given. It is something they must develop. His coach knew that and tried to teach his players this. Anyway, this coach taught him many things that he kept with him throughout his life that I feel apply to mine.

First, I think I should point out that he never made it to the NFL but he points out that sometimes actually achieving your dream isn’t the most important part of having a dream. Most of the time you learn more on the journey to your goal than you do once you get there. I decided I’m going to look at my swimming career this way. I shouldn’t be disappointed that I never made it to NCAA’s, although I still am. I should take to heart everything that I have experienced in those 15 years. It shaped who I am today and I have learned alot along the way. And I am grateful for all I have experienced, and really should look at it that way instead of being disappointed.

One thing that Randy says in this chapter really resonates with me. It’s something that his assistant football coach told him when the head coach was “riding him hard”, aka pushing him to reach the potential he knew Randy could reach. The assistant coach told him that “when you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.” I wish I would have thought of it that way more the past 4 years. I guess it just shows you that when your coach is giving you a hard time and asking the hard questions, they really care about you and how you perform.

Well, that didn’t quite turn out as well as I thought but maybe you will see the point that I am making. I just wanted to share this and hope that it may affect you how it has me. I’ve been thinking about that alot, as well as other things in that book, since I’ve started reading it.