If only I had a barrel

I drove up the Mesa falls this afternoon.

(Beyond the Cut)

Christina's birthday party

Christina had a birthday party today. With us at the party was this cute little girl.

(Beyond the Cut)

Phone interviewing

I'm not sure how this works, but I'm in the process of starving and wanting to throw-up. It's been nearly 10 years since I did a phone interview. The last time was to work for a market research company that did surveys over the phone. The pay was $7.50 an hour, I was living with my parents, and I had no debt.

I woke up this morning thinking how cool it was to be in a phone interview. I could wear shorts and a T-shirt while interviewing for a job that would affect the rest of my life (get a job in Boise, settle in Boise, live out the rest of the next 5 years of my life in Boise OR not get a job in Boise, move to CA, become a special education teacher, and live in CA for the next 4 years of my life....). However, what I didn't think of was the bent up energy that comes from being interviewed. I was pacing up and down my room and the hallway trying to respond to each question. I know I screwed up on at least one question (How will Ada county Sheriff's department benefit from having you as an employee?) , but I think I handled the other well.

There were three rounds of questions from three separate people. The first came from a sergeant in the sheriff's department. He was asking me the same questions they asked me in the supplemental questionnaire. These questions were fairly easy because I've never done a bad thing in my life. I've never had a speeding ticket. I've never transported, taken, manufactured or done anything with a drug. I've never done drugs, that was the job of all of my friends in high school and junior college. I'm a goody too-shoes. The only thing I had to answer yes to was "Have you ever been a defendant in a civil suit?" Yup. I sued three insurance companies three years ago and they counter sued me.

The second round of questions were directed at my office practices and my life goals and my dedication to the program, work history, etc. Of course I flew through these as well.( expect for that previous screwed up question.) I've always quit companies. I've never been fired. I've never been disciplined. I'm a model employee.

The third set of questions dealt with programs - addiction recovery programs. I think I handled myself okay in this area. I knew enough about 12-step programs, cognitive change programs, and trigger programs that I could manage.

Depending on what they are looking for, I'm a little under qualified for this position. I think that is the most vomit producing part of this. I've always walked into jobs over qualified for the position I was applying for. On more than one occasion, I actually told the employer ways to improve their business because I knew more than they did. This is the first time I'm walking in with a limited knowledge. I have one sociology class and one 4-month long internship as my experience and education. Yes, I've worked the LDS 12-steps for nearly 4 years, but I have found in the world of addiction, the LDS program is not up to par with the rest of the world.

Either way, this has been a nerve racking experience. I'll be just happy returning to an in-person interview any day now.

Orchestra

I went on a date to an orchestra tonight.

(Beyond the cut)

Scooter

Rexburg, ID
There are a ton of these all over town, but this one looked like crap. It looks like it has been laid down several times on either side. It had a cracked front console. There are scrapes on both side walls. I saw it when I was dropping off a friend from a date. My friend lives in the dorms.

New to Rexburg

We have a new restaurant in town. They opened yesterday. The second shot is for those people that spend there anniversaries in Rexburg - the new restaurant is in the same parking lot of the hotel pictured.

Christina

My roommate's friend. She's from Alaska.

Blurred photos

I'm not sure why these shots are blurry. The first is of the Taylor building and the other is near the gardens at BYUI.

I'm not sure

I went on a drive today for about 4 hours. This is one of the shots from the drive. I know the first shot is from Ririe Dam. I think (THINK) I was in Targhee National park when I saw the cow.

kindling

I've been carving on a fish for my cousin in CA. What a mess I've made.

(And yes - that is the real time)

The Gardens

I had to go up to campus today for a meeting. I had a little extra time afterwards to go to the gardens.

Snow Building

The first shows how big the Snow used to be. The other two are the additions on the North side.

Rexburg Temple

BYUI North Campus

It's been quite some time since I've been to North Campus. Once work began on the MC additions and the Bednar Auditorium, campus really got divided by North and South. The first Pic is looking out West over where the Bednar Auditorium will some day stand. The second and third pictures are of the MC's north face. The last picture is from near the Spori - where I have no clue what they are doing there.

Creepy Crawlies or German Pancakes

I made German Pancakes for breakfast this morning. KNJ gave me the recipe about 4 years ago.

Cold Stone

I went to Cold Stone on a date today.

Construction

Rumors have it that one of these days, they are going to build a 15,000 person auditorium here one of these days...but after over a year of digging and explosions it's still a big hole with a lot of dirt. Yesterday they started blowing up the road that leads to the MC.

There are additional construction pics on my other site.

Wood working

I've been working on a earring box for the last few weeks. These pics show the progress I've made. I still need to sand out the hole and paint the box.

I talked about it here

BYU-Idaho

These shots are from the BYU-Idaho construction. The ramp was one of the ideas I proposed and was picked up by the school. The disabled parking spots was another proposal I had that BYU-Idaho picked up and ran with. The other picture is where the MC circle used to be.

Sneaking food

I saw this guy sneaking out of the apartment window next door.

Mary

This is one of the girls in my ward showing me why dancing is not gay.

My dad is the coolest

After spending the last 4 days in bed, sipping soup, drinking lots of fluids and getting rest (all the while looking for and applying for jobs online)...I ventured outside today. I went to get the mail and discovered a package from my father. On the inside was a note proclaiming "Happy Father's day!" "Instead of you trying to figure out something to get for me, I thought I would turn things around and get something for you." Then I looked in the box. This is what I got.

Woohoo - No more throw away cameras! My dad is the bestest Dad in the whole wide world.

(picture taken with my new digital camera)

Me

These are some pics that people have been taking of me.

My Trip to Boise

On Thursday I drove out to Boise for a friend's wedding. I've known JM since she was 2, so it was a really good experience to watch her get married. Even though her parents don't, I got a really good feeling from DC. I'm really happy for them. I ended up staying longer in Boise, though because I didn't want to go back to Rexburg.
On Friday I went to the zoo with JM's mom and siblings. It was a lot of fun. It's been a long time since I've had 17 nieces and nephews calling me Uncle Sean.
On Friday night I helped NH & VM change out all the outlets in the house (my father taught how to do this in Chad's house last year). It felt good to know more than VM and to have better tools than him. That night we went to a water park. I got some good pics there - especially of Johnny.
Also next to the water park was a field filled flags.
On Saturday, I went shopping and went out to shoot pictures. That night I went shopping with MH (formally MM) and CM (I bought a hat). After shopping I got to watch the illusionist for the first time.


I have to say, one of the coolest things about this mini-vacation was that every night, as they were putting the kids to bed, I got to go on a 30 minute bike ride (so that I wouldn't be a distraction to the calming down and sleeping process). It was so nice to go riding every night.

Spring break & My trip to Provo

I've been pretty busy lately.

Spring Break
For the second week of April I went home to Cali. On the first day I went to a friend of mine's place to help her weed her garden. It was a garden I helped put in several years ago and it felt nice to get back into it.
Then on Tuesday, I took John and we went to City Beach and went rock climbing. There were five automatic belays and then a whole bunch that weren't automatic. I was able to climb 4 of the 5 without any problems. The fifth inverted about half way up and I struggled climbing upside down. There were these little kids that could do it without any problem. That was annoying. But John and I had a really good time. I think once I graduate I'll get into that a lot more often.
On Wednesday I went to an A's game with my father. We got some really good seats and watched the game. We were late, so we missed the first inning when the A's scored three points. Then the game went 6 innings scoreless. Then in the last two, the Chicago Whitesox scored 8 points. It was really sad to watch, but my dad and I had a good time anyway.
On Thursday, I went to see my friend at work. She works for Panera as the head pastry chef. We have a tradition of always having breakfast when I come to town. After breakfast I went and got new tires for my truck. I was very grateful for that purchase. While I was there, my dad came buy and bought me supplies for this semester. I got a lot of food and a lot of juice. I love it.
On Friday I packed, up so I could spend the night in the North Bay with John. We had dinner at H's place and had a basically fun night.
On Saturday and Sunday I drove home.
It was a great trip

Provo
For Memorial Day weekend, I went down to Provo to see Dun & Gu. I drove down Friday night arriving about 9pm. I met up with a friend from Boise (SD) and we went to dinner at this great Mexican place. I eventually got over to Dun & Gu's and we stayed up late talking. On Saturday mid-morning we got up and went to a Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos. The basis of the place is that you can have all the salad you want. As you sit and eat you can put up a green flag or a red flag. If your green flag is up, you are in "need" of meat. A server walks around from table to table with skewers of beef, chicken, breaded zucchini, breaded squash and various other rotisserie goodies. The server asks if you want any. If you do, the server uses his/her machete and cuts you off some. It was awesome.
To walk off the feast, Gu suggested we go up to Bridal Veil Falls. There was this great bike path there and these beautiful falls. We enjoyed the falls and the path. While on the path, Gu found these caterpillars.
After Bridal Veils, we went up to Heber to find a place called "Granny's Drive - In" where supposedly, the best milk shakes in Utah were made. It was great.
After we got home we porch sat and watched birds eat worms. I took a nap. We then went on a bike ride through Springville. About 1/2 way through our ride we came upon this mini-natural preserve. Some guy with lots of money has purchased a whole bunch of random animals and just has them there living. Everything from llamas and ostriches to reindeer and kangaroos. it was really random.
On Sunday, I went to a BYU singles ward with SD. Then I went back to SD's place to play games and hang out until dinner. For about two years now, I've been going down to Provo and dividing my time between SD and Dun & GU. Finally, they met for dinner, poker, and hearts. It was great fun.
On Monday I went to this inspiring memorial service put on by Gu's family. (Sorry, but I don't have any pics from that...). It touched me very deeply. I really enjoyed it, as an outsider. It was great to be an observer there.

So yea, those were my two trips. I'll update my Boise trip once I get the film developed.