Too Long to be Without...

It has been too long since I've posted something here, but I wanted to get a few thoughts that I had tonight down, just because I really liked them and wanted to share or maybe even hear what everyone else has to say, if anyone reads this anymore.

-I'm the last one to leave the Thunderdome before Christmas. For a while I thought it was going to be for good, but it looks like we'll at least get to finish out the semester here, which is good. It feels like home, and when everyone is gone, I keep thinking that the house is haunted, but I'm realizing now that I'm so conditioned to doors slamming and music blaring and some kind of story or commotion going on that it is more my mind playing tricks on me in anticipation of people being home. For an only child, you would think I would be used to being on my own, but I still have a hard time sleeping knowing that I'm the only one here. Guess I've assured myself of having a relatively large family.

-I had a conversation with my friend the other night and realized something about myself. I get extremely terse and angry with people who judge. I also get upset with people simply commenting or noticing the things that are wrong or that I am doing wrong or people in general are doing wrong. I guess shortly, I hate people noticing the negative and the bad in my own life and with others. I think I usually interpret that as cockiness or arrogance on the part of the offending party, because of my own shortcomings and dislike for the feelings I've felt from people like that in the past. I've made plenty of mistakes in my life that others have not, not because I'm a bad person or I like bad things per se, but because I am curious and I always want to see what something feels like or how to do it, and that is at least one reason that I tend to get into trouble. For those of you who have never had to deal with the pain of making mistakes or paying the price for mistakes made down the road, have never had to feel the hurt and disappointment and pain, have never had to fight your way back to the good road, when it seems like you've been on the bad one, and haven't felt away from the things that you once had but lost, I just ask for your patience. Some of us aren't built to handle things the way you are. We struggle, learn, fall, struggle some more, and try to get ahead but it just doesn't always turn out to be rainbows and gumdrops and puppy dog kisses every day. That doesn't mean we don't have rich, fulfilling moments, or dreams and happy lives, just that we do things differently. I hope we can all be just a little more understanding, especially myself.

-I've been thinking about definitions a lot lately, and when I get some more time, I want to really put my thoughts to paper. My biggest hope and desire with what I write here is that people will read and be inspired, or led, to thoughts that they can in turn share with me and others. I firmly stand by the idea that Creativity begets creativity, and we can all use some of that in our lives.

-Working at Pizza Hut is both a blessing and a curse. I feel like the work I do is so menial and inappropriate for capitalizing on my strengths, but at the same time, I make good money for a part-time college gig, and I have a lot of time to be creative and think up random things to do at work to make it more fun and also continue to think up new ideas for my outside life. Creativity is my new favorite theme in my life right now, so much so that I am really looking hard into what I want my career forays to be in. You would think that at 27 I would have this figured out by now, and I thought I had, but now I don't know.

-If I had a word of the day calendar, the big ones this week/month would be balderdash, haberdashery, shenanigans and tomfoolery, kibosh, hijinks, and there was one more that I heard today that I can't remember. Foo. Oh well. Until next time I guess.

So anyone who knows or talks to me on a semi recent basis knows that I chose to live in St George this summer and try and knock out some school so that I can get it done more quickly. While in the beginning, I thought this was a great idea, it has turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined, but, as I see now, much more necessary. Which has led me to blog more than I ever have before, which I actually think is huge. My love of writing has never betrayed me, but I certainly have not shown it the time or attention that it deserves, so maybe this "Summer Of One" will have some benefit to it. As always, I'm just posting thoughts, sorry, but until I start taking a class on how to blog more effectively, it is what it is.


My iPod must be possessed, lately it has been playing a few songs that just make me want to go someplace big and energetic, like Vegas, so I think I might start a Vegas mix here tonight. Not that I really want to go, because Vegas is really overpriced and kind of less fun now that I am older and have to pay for everything myself, but I just like the idea of having that go-to mix for a good night. Yes I am a music geek. Feel free to judge me all you like.

I think that right now I would love to write for a show like Entourage, one where I could put together these semi-ridiculous ideas that only super rich and powerful people can really get done. Not that I don't believe that they might happen, but I just have the feeling that they wouldn't be as satisfying as I might hope they are. On-screen everything looks better anyways.

I have to chime in on the Jazz today. I think Memo, Booz, and Korver opting-in will be fine. I love Millsap as much as anyone else, so I hope he stays, but if we lose him, it's not the end of the world. Having $27 million dollars in expiring contracts leaves the Jazz a lot of flexibility at the trade deadline for next season, and the offseason that EVERYONE is preparing for, 2010. Plus, we still get the chance to see how the team might do healthy, and if they struggle, or we need an extra piece later in the season, we have the flexibility to do so. I think having open options is a nice thing to have right now. If you wanted to connect this to our current situation with the economy, you could say having options is good for everyone because there are more opportunities to achieve your goals. So far, despite being kind of melodramatic, the off-season for the Jazz has been effective I think. Not really a whole lot out there really makes us a better team unless it is through some trades.

I'm feeling much older these days. 26 is still young, technically, but I've definitely been bitten by the "environment" bug that is Utah. I know I've taken a random winding path in my life, but it has been the right one for me to get to where I need to be, and to learn the lessons that I need to, so it can be hard for me to hate it. Yet, I get the feeling that my young days of play are ending. I notice a lot of things ending that used to be a big deal to me, a lot of transition with those around me, and a lot changes within as well. I think the thing that scares me the most I guess is facing all this without my closest friends there with me from day to day. I never realized how much I relied on them for pretty much anything, and now that I am kind of on my own in almost every respect, the world seems much bigger and more lonely, and harder to conquer. I guess I just assumed that there were great friends like mine all over, but that might have been a great exaggeration.

I need help learning more about computers. Maybe taking a class would be a good idea, but I just feel less than prepared than I should be.

I'm on a hunt for good things to read. If you have any, just comment below this post. I love reading and I will give just about anything a chance.

The Roundup

It's about time that I posted something new here, and since I've decided writing exclusively about sports is probably a waste of time when I have lots of ideas to write about in general, I'm just going to free flow this bad boy for a bit. Starting with a list;


Things I Don't Get:
-Why everyone thinks the Jazz had a bad draft. My poor friends have lost YEARS of their lives because A, Brevin Knight can't hit a jumper, which I can't do either Brevin, so no hard feelings, and because Jason Hart wasn't exactly the right fit, to be polite. Please, Let Dylan MacLeod live to see 40. Just accept it. The only other player who could have made a real difference in this draft was Blake Griffin, or maybe Stephen Curry.
-Why girls take so many pictures of their shoes. Really? You love feet that much?
-School. I just suck at it. Period.
-Why more pop stars don't try to fake their deaths. This may be totally inappropriate, but Michael Jackson is cleaning up in sales right now. Maybe it's my cold heart, I don't know.
-Why people in Asia are following my twitter...
-What happened to RocknRolla. Was I the only one who saw this movie? Was it not great? Did someone slip a happy pill in my coke before the show and I just dreamt it all? Go rent it right now, please, I need the sequel.
-Girls. I'm sorry, I just don't see it ever happening.
-Why country music just feels so good. Even Hootie had to switch. I love you Darius Rucker....


I've started a new job recently. I deliver pizzas for Pizza Hut. It's really fulfilling. Kids on the street love me, I'm known worldwide as "The Pizza Guy" or "Pizza Dude" and I feel like Fall Out Boy at a rock concert whenever I show up to a party, because honestly, when you're drunk and hungry, who doesn't love to see some pizza? Alas, that does not always leave me fully satisfied as having really pushed my limits, and having GPS on my phone has taken the fun out of the game I used to play called, Find The Street. SO, in order to combat the impending boredom and soon to be hatred of doing dishes when there are no deliveries, I've invented some World's Strongest Pizza Guy style events that I try to compete daily in so that I stay motivated. They are....

-Garbage Bag underhand carry and toss: Carry as many full trash bags as possible to the dumpster in as short a time as possible, then proceed to toss them OVER the fence and land them in the LEFT dumpster from a distance of fifteen feet. Bonus points if you can throw a box and a bag, points deducted for dropping anything else in your hand or for being French. Unless it was that really hot blonde girl who sat next to me on my way to Ukraine. She wins at everything.

-Hand Toss Carry: Stack as many COMPLETELY PREPPED pans of hand tossed pizza dough on top of one another, and carry them from prep table to the freezer, where they are stored overnight. Included in this challenge is the task of opening the door while NOT setting down the pans, and placing all pans DIRECTLY on the racks in the freezer. Two divisions, medium and large. My record is thirteen for each, seeing as how that is the number that will fit on the rack. I'm still working on a technique that will slide a larger stack onto the racks.

-Sink Lift- How long can you hold a sink up while someone else cleans underneath it? If you saw my dishwashing station, this would make much more sense, I promise.

-Salad Cart Push (cancelled): Designed to see how fast you can push the salad cart from the freezer to the salad bar station with all loose condiments remaining on the cart. Cancelled after I almost killed a retired couple and covered a five year old in ranch dressing. Okay, not really, but I don't really want to try it when customers are present and get fired. I need my job. Really. Stop Laughing. IT'S A TOUGH ECONOMY!!!




I'm trying to become more addicted to twitter, not because I really want people to see what I am doing, I could care less, but I like using it as kind of a notepad. I tried this on my mission to Ukraine about a million times, but pens, pads of paper and trying to get all that out while doing a plethora of other things, along with not sitting on my notepad and just beating it to death in my pockets is pretty cumbersome, so I'm seriously hoping this twitter thing pays off for me. As if I didn't text enough already.

I think I could probably write more here, but this is a good start for me. I really could go off for about an hour on more sports topics, but I think better to leave that for another day.

I haven’t written here in forever, which is my own fault, but with football season being done, I lost a significant amount of motivation, so I’ve decided to just switch this to a regular blog that most likely will be dominated by sports posts. If you don’t like it, I apologize, but I have little more of noteworthiness or good report than what I glean from the world of sports.

-The jazz frustrate me to no end. Basically what it comes down to are the same things that frustrate me about life and myself, and to an extent, other people. They play with little or no heart from time to time, lack consistency, and often times, effort altogether. Anyone who has talked to me lately knows that my biggest kick right now is doing things in my life that I feel passionate about. Sadly, because of the wealth of information and material, my love for reading usually leads me to spend hours at a time on the computer, and my need or desire to bounce ideas off of other people and to generate conversation means my facebook account is almost always logged on, which is not the absolute worst thing, because I gain knowledge and love to read. I can’t say that I blame people who have no dreams, or have outlying reasons for not pursuing them, but I can blame the Jazz for lacking heart or desire. If basketball is such a big chore for you, how about you give back the $12,000,000 that you made this year and go bust hump looking for a job at your local fast food restaurant, because to the rest of the world, this is all we can do. If you have a special talent, it is your responsibility to use it to the best of your ability. I think we’re all guilty at some point, but that should set us on a proper course to correct. I don’t see that happening with the Jazz. Win or lose, they lost heart, which is something I just can not stand.

-I think its wrong, but spring to me means that football is just around the corner. Yes, I know baseball is typically a spring sport, but in all honesty, I enjoy it more in the summer when there is little else to talk about more than in the spring.

-My matchup of the spring, like so many others in the glorious state of Utah, is Corbin Louks v. Terrance Cain. I haven’t been able to see much, but just from what I personally believe and have read, I think that Louks will get the nod. He has a little more experience in the current system, and familiarity can mean a lot to any athlete. Clearly both sound very capable.

-I’d love the chance to build my own team from scratch in any sport. With salary cap setups its not like you can just put together a team of nothing but pro bowl or all star caliber players, in anything but baseball, but it would be interesting to see how successful they would be on the field, and not just in fantasy style leagues. Would your schemes work? How about the chemistry? Could you really survive with mostly team players and contributors? These are all questions I’d love to see answered for my own picks.

-I’m a Padres fan, end of story. I have respect for the Twins and the Angels, mostly because I grew up watching their minor league players, but I’ve seen more Angels games than any team but the Padres, and I like the workmanlike style of the Twins, but I have to say, few things in this world beat eating a Dodger Dog while hanging out at the toilet bowl. One of those things, however, is any game at Petco Park ;)

Throwback

This is a piece that I wrote when I had just gotten home from my mission about Utah Football and the state that it was in. Kind of interesting to see what has transpired since that time, and also interesting how much of this is still true.

A True Utah Man

The Utes lost last night.

Welcome to Utah Football.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that is Utah Football. Not losing, mind you. The Utes are definitely going to be title contenders every year in the Mountain West Conference, and no doubt will win many championships in the years to come, but let’s be realistic. Urban Meyer did a great job of hyping a program that 2 years ago underachieved so badly that even the New York Yankees would have been jealous. I enjoyed riding Renewal as much as the next guy, but Man Down South has moved on to sandy beaches and mai tais and power football programs. Urban Meyer is not Utah Football. Utah Football is what it is because 45,000 people paid $35 a ticket so that he could get a paycheck every month, and while he did a lot to build the program, the heart of it is in the fans. Kyle Wittingham is a great coach, one who is fully capable of duplicating the success that Meyer enjoyed in his two years here, but it will take time. He has a sophomore quarterback, who last year spent more time signaling plays than calling them in the huddle. Besides, Remember last year in the third or fourth quarter when we would put the second team in and every team made a charge against us and the starters had to come back in? Well, guess what? Those guys are now the starters. Perhaps we are still riding the wave of love that the “Biggest Show on Turf” (aka Urban Meyer) brought last year. We should only be so grateful that the Football Gods smiled on Utah Fans long enough to give us some sort of a comeback to all those stupid BYU fans who always say “We won a National Championship in 1984.” Straight up, I am proud to say that I am a Utah Man. When I hear the fight song, no matter where I am, I want to stand up and start to clap my hands. I don’t really know what we expect, considering that the student sections knows two lines to the fight song, and we have a real struggle just trying to keep our clapping in rhythm. My point is this, if you jumped on to the Utah bandwagon last year, don’t jump off just yet. Will Utah ever become a Michigan or Notre Dame or Texas? I surely hope not, because I love it when stupid talking heads like Trev Alberts (by the way, I hope the unemployment checks are giving you enough respect, Trevie) and the BCS disrespect us and we end up forcing them to give us what we deserve and reward them by filling the Fiesta Bowl with Red and dominating what really was a pathetic Pitt team. This isn’t a rant about Utah Football, or calling for Andy Ludwig’s head, this is a call to arms for every person who has a red sweater in their closet, for every person who prayed for Chris Yergensen to make that field goal, for every fan who cried when Ryan Kaneshiro missed wide right, and for every Runnin’ Ute who laughed for three years straight as Ron McBride beat the Team Down South 34-31, 34-31, 34-17. Next week when Air Force flies into town, I hope that the stands will be full and rocking, that as soon as Brian Johnson leads the team out of that goofy little tent, his heart will skip a beat because he will feel it. Utah Football needs the Fans. The defense needs the MUSS on third and long, Quinton Ganther needs that extra burst of screaming from the north stands, and we need to show these Utes that we haven’t given up on them, and we never will. Don’t give up on these Utes, they still have a lot to show us, and I think now they have something to prove not only to themselves, but everyone else as well, and that may be the best thing of all.