Things As I See Them...

Crazy Cranial Conundrums Create Candy Corn Carrots

2011-10-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Heavens, where do I start. I was reading my last post and was attempting to piece together all that has happened since that last bike ride and rib eating. Too much has happened, and I'll probably mess things up, but I will try to get it all in and figure out what pictures to put where.

Looking back now after being in the new digs for a couple months, I can honestly say I miss my life in provo a bit. You never really know how good you have something till you have to leave it behind. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'll go so far to say that I wished I'd never moved out here, I'm just saying that I miss it; I feel that it is ok to miss things.

I had it really good out there. I had wonderful co workers at the BYUB, I enjoyed thoroughly every minute I got to spend at the bike shop, I was out riding my bikes again, and most importantly, Danelle and I were close to family. All of these aspects of life get flipped upside down when you move and have to start all over again. That being said, here is the sum up of my remaining adventures in Provo.

Now, I can't remember the proper order of some of these events, so I'll just go in what seems like a logical order. Mind you, during these past several months since May, I'd had the knowledge that my life could change in a phone call's notice. It was like knowing a storm was coming, but having your doppler rader breaking down so you didn't know exactly when it was going to make land fall. Anyway, at some point a friend of mine convinced me that I needed to do a bike race with him. I had, in a way, inspired him to start biking and get into racing. He wanted to see what it was like to see me race. I suppose this was in hopes of seeing what it would have been like to see me muscle my way around a peloton. I'd been pretty good at it in my racing days, but I didn't really know what to expect since I'd been out of a racing peloton for about 5 or 6 years or something like that. This also gave the good wife a chance to see a bike race.

My buddy's "flight" went off first. This kind of race is called a criterium, or "crit" for short. The best way I can explain this is that it is like indy car racing but on a bicycle. The course is a short course around about 1 kilometer (1 mile = 1.6K, everything cycling related gets put in the metric system) and they are very fast, and in my past I'd known them to be the most aggressive bike races in which I'd ever participated. I mean, this is serious business. In the past I'd had elbows thrown, bumping bikes at high speeds, muscling for rank, etc. This is essentially Mad Max on a bike. My buddy had a great turn out. I was really impressed. He'd really come a long way since I sold him his first bike. He positioned himself well, had great strength, and he rode with his head in the game paying good attention to the subtle fluctuations with the peloton (peloton refers to the group of racers in a pack in a bike race). Overall, a really good turn out.

This is my buddy climbing up the short but steep uphill in the race.

So then it was my turn. My race was supposed to last 30 mins. Mind you this was my good wife's first exposure to bike racing. The flight started and immediately the pack started to split up. My customary asthma attack started in earnest as I decided to not sit back. I crossed the gap, but in my haste I found myself pushing the break away in the front (picture). Now, when you push your body in this fashion after years of not doing it, you start to get a little fuzzy in the head due to lack of oxygen. In moments like this, I'd learned through my years of experience to settle down, find a good breathing rhythm and keep the pace as high as possible. It's kind of like trying to write an essay on a topic that you have studied for years, but all of a sudden they want you to write it in a language you've only been learning for a few months. I say that because when it comes down to it, I know a lot about bike racing, but I'd only been somewhat seriously back on my bike for a few months prior to doing this race.

Anyway, with my throat burning due the harsh asthmatic breathing (attempt to run a mile while breathing through like 3 normal drinking straws), the race had a very nasty incident. I was charging down the hill that separated the two figure eight-ish loops in the course when I spotted an accident. I didn't see it happen, but by the looks of it, and I'd seen many accidents in cycling, it was bad. I knew that in racing, accidents happen. There were plenty of other racers from other flights who were simply watching who went to attend the injured, so I kept racing. There was nothing I could do, and in racing, you are there to race. After one more lap, I saw that one of the riders was completely unconscious. This wasn't good. They called the race after a mere 15 minutes of riding and an ambulance was called in. Sad day. Needless to say, that may have been my last road race. Not my last race ever though. I'll get to that later.

Here I grind my asthmatic self up a hill. My brain still believed I could race like a hero, so it pushed my body to painful limits.... I enjoyed every minute of it.

So, back to my imaginary timeline. Somewhere in between all of this I had to fly back out to the east coast for some more job related test/interview junk. After that round of interviewing I though for sure that my chances at that job were out the window, so the good wife and I decided to go on holiday.

The chosen destination was California. We figured that after all these months of frustration, we might as well go get some beach time in. So, we loaded up the car and took off. The drive was nice and uneventful. The good wife got a chance to drive our car around. The story is that she doesn't drive much, and so we're undergoing this slow process to get her driving around. This is tough though since we have one car, and I'm generally using it to go to and from work etc. As nervous as she is though, she drives like a champ. The only down side is that the new car, being as big as it is, doesn't maneuver very well. That takes some getting used to.

-While Danelle drove, I took random pictures.

-This is what most of the drive looks like going to San Diego

-This made me so mad. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what the devil was going on and why traffic backed up so badly. I later would find out that this had to deal with the "illegal fruit" inspections they do for California. Suuure. We were stuck in this for almost an hour.

The Beach. A good friend of mine had a great poem about the beach. The only line I can really remember though is this, "Glorify war, or Glorify Peace... if you want me? I'll be at the beach." That line always goes through my head every time I go to the beach.

The good wife LOVES the beach. I'm missing it quite a bit at the moment myself as I'm looking out the window at snow falling from the sky.

Here are the good wife's brothers chilling on the sand.

The good wife's younger brother doing a classic photobomb.

Most of the time down in San Diego was spent with the family down there. Lots of laughter and just good old fashioned laid back relaxing. I brought down my road bike with me this time too. I got in some good rides. San Diego has really nice/courteous drivers, and lots of crazy hills. I hit 55 mph going down one of them. It had been a long time since I'd hit those kinds of speeds. The beauty was that I was going the speed limit and cars didn't pass me while I was doing it.

Here is an effort the good wife, myself, and her younger brothers put in to stop the water? I think that's what the objective was.

The good wife and I spent a lot of time going on walks around her neighborhood. This little creek thing is behind her house. We went around looking for crayfish and little guppies. We found some.

a fish!

Crayfish. I like to throw rocks at them and watch them escape back swimming backwards.

Here we are! Having all sorts of fun. Though, interesting story about this is that moments after this picture was taken, we started hearing these screams from one of the houses with a woman yelling "Call 9-1-1!" We went to investigate and what had happened was this lady got into her SUV and went in reverse, but what she couldn't see was that her little boy was sitting behind the left side rear wheel area. She essentially ran him over since he was sitting in a blind spot. It sure was a mess, but the boy was conscious and was air lifted to hospital. I sure felt horrible for that family.

This is my in-laws pet bird, Taz. He is a complete idiot, but an adorable one. This will sort of serve as a platform for a later story.

More beach time. Here I am kicking around a beach ball I found.

This little fella was suspicious and crabby about getting his photo taken.

I really really love this place.

The Good Wife and I in a cave.

My sister in-law's daughter puttin' on her shades.

And then we left and we were sad.

Oh! right, but there was this one thing that happened. While I was on the trip, I got a call one morning. The call came from the job-place I'd been interviewing with for the past forever. They told me they just needed a few more things and I was good to go for hiring. I was shocked.

After we returned back to Utah, I got another call telling me I had been hired and they needed me to move in order to start work in what was then about 3 weeks or so. All of a sudden all hell broke loose in life. It was kind of like getting punched out of no where. I had this plan in my head that I was going to have all sorts of time to move out, get settled, and start the new job when and if it ever happened. When it turned out not to be that case at all, I felt kinda robbed for lack of a better way of describing it.

The one massive pain that happened is that it was a rushed goodbye to the band that I'd been playing in. Every band I'd ever been in has left a mark on me. This one in particular left the most unique one I think. We just worked so well. Everything we did just jelled. Most of all, we never had any ambitions of "making it" in the music industry (though I feel that if it had ever happened, we all would have been happy to take it on.) Playing music in this sort of setting probably won't ever happen again for me, and for that, I'm still feeling like a fellow who lost a limb.

Here we are playing our last show at Muse. Classic Ghost in a Jar, just playing our songs (to an audience mind you that consisted of one of the bands that played before us, my wife, lead singer's wife, and a couple others), and of course, we're not paying attention to much.

Here are some pictures from that show:

Danelle and I in the red lights.

Ghost in a Jar, in all their glory.

Neil Oler, the most talented voice in rock I'd ever have the opportunity of hearing.

Me, busting out the sax for the first time in close to 10 years.

The next few clips I'm going to imbed are from the Boothe Brother's Battle of the Bands which is held every year in Spanish Fork, UT. The year previous we had gotten some rather harsh remarks from the judges. One of them saying we sounded like "The Ghosts of Syd Barrett," Syd Barrett being the first lead singer of the band known as Pink Floyd. So, in classic Ghost in a Jar response, we entered the competition as The Ghosts of Syd Barrett. We played a wonderful set. I'm glad that my good wife got the entire thing recorded. One of the songs, actually, was the last song we had just finished writing as a band. We included a saxophone solo.

Anyway, I don't feel much like explaining my feelings on this subject much beyond what I have, but this part of my life will be sorely missed.

So, I quit my job at BYU Broadcasting, we had an awkward time setting up pickup for our few possessions we owned, and we bought some new furniture to ship out to our new place back east. Luckily, things got picked up, and we were told would be delivered to us shortly after we arrived and could find a new place to live.

After some much faster goodbye's than I would have preferred, we packed up car and took off. We drove east using the I-80 route, which was great at first, but I later regretted once I got to Chicago. That place is awful to drive in. I never want to see that stretch of road ever again. Oh, and the PA turnpike going SE... that sucks too. I've never been tailgated by a semi truck going 85mph down a mountain pass before in my life until I got to that road. Scariest driving ever. I felt more like a bowling ball being tossed down an alley than a driver in a car.

Here we are driving through probably Nebraska. We didn't really take many pictures on this trip. I'd wished the roads were like this the whole way, but they got ugly. If you ever are driving to the east coast, do yourself the favor and take I-70.

Farms!

Then the hills got this rolling look to them...

And then, we were apartment hunting and saw lots of bugs... like this one!

So, the apartment hunt was hard. We spent a few days doing this. Then, all of a sudden, I had to start work and we still didn't have a place to live in. Funny enough, I had work the day of our wedding anniversary. Danelle was such a trooper. That day we were going to move into our new place, but she had to check out of the hotel by 11am. I had to go to work. So she ended up spending the rest of the day (till 5pm) in the hotel lobby. I got back to her, we went and signed papers, and then we got into our new place. Now, the thing here is that we wouldn't end up receiving any of our household goods for another month. We ended up having just an inflatable mattress and a few plants sitting around the house. It was intensely awkward.

I continued to under go the intro training from my work. We all of a sudden had an earthquake one week, then a hurricane blow through the next. We decided also that Danelle was too lonely at home, so with the inspiration of Taz (bird picture above), we bought a bird too.

His name is Bailey. He is kinda dumb, but really cuddly for a bird.

Here he is poised on the top of his cage.

And here he is looking out the window at stuff.

And here he is sleeping in between us. What a weird bird. (Note the absence of furniture. We lived without it for a month. It was kinda like camping I guess).

At one point, we decided to go check out the local wildlife after the hurricane blew through. Here are some pictures from that adventure:

This tree got blown over. It made for a neat picture though. These pictures are taken of the Arundel area of Petapsco State Park here. It is a great system of trails.

Danelle likes her kisses of course. She was having a blast here.

I really liked this little archway and so did the good wife, so she took a picture.

Find the bug in the picture.

a big spider.

Notice the giant log washed down stream from flooding. The hurricane did a bit of a number to the trails here.

Crossing a tributary to the Petapsco river.

Danelle is being excited to find fish in the stream!

She took a picture of me picking up random rocks. I can't quite remember why I was doing this. I think I was just fascinated to see quartz in a stream again.

Danelle took this. I thought it was a pretty picture and would share it with you.

Again, she was really happy to see little water falls and fish.

The one thing about this park is that there are deer everywhere (oh deer!). They really are freaky when you're biking through the woods and you suddenly come across them.

The cool thing is that there are all sorts of ruins of old cemeteries, churches, cabins, and old milling towns all over these woods. I'll have to make a compilation of pictures of them one of these days. It really is quite fascinating.

Here are a few photos of us being wacky:

We're wearing hats that one of our good friends from Utah knitted for us. They are quickly going to come in handy here with this onslaught of cold. I'm looking forward to utilizing this hat.

Then we did a complimentary ring wraith shot.

And so here I am. On the east coast and trying to reinvent life again. It will be quite an adventure. I've recently purchased a new bike, but I'll wait till the next post to talk about that when I've got some more cycling adventure pictures for this. I've been too lazy to shave these days so I have a beard right now. How fun.

-Syclist

Glutony and a Gauntlet

2011-05-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

I hereby apologize for having a lot of typos in this post. I'm really fatigued after the bike ride I had today, but I'm trying to get my head back into reality; hence, I'm making a post to get my brains moving again.

Recently, my brother, his wife, and wee baby came to visit. My wife and bro's wife went and got pedicures whilst Jason and I did some good ol fashioned wrenching at the bike shop. I finished building a wheel for my mt. bike which was a momentous occasion as I haven't really built many wheels in my life. I think it turned out nicely. I'll have to post pictures later perhaps.

We then decided to go get food. I wasn't all too in the mood to eat anything but grilled meat, so we went to Goodwood. This restaurant has to be my favorite place to go here in the Provo/Orem area. The barbeque is good, the stylings of the restaurant are wonderful, and I only feel a little guilty after downing 2/3 rack of baby back ribs. I got some pictures of that:

Danelle and I enjoying some delicious food. I never take serious photos. This photo is also a great representation of how much I hate shaving.
I went to go wash my hands, and then when I came back to my chair, these were waiting for me. 2/3 of a rack of ribs, steak fries, and some barbequed beans (Christian, these weren't as good as Texas Roundhouses, but the ribs have TR beat by a long shot).
Mmmmmmmm riiiiibs. Nom Nom Nom.

I got out and rode my bike around a bit this weekend. I rode a quick 1 hr 10 min ride on Saturday which was a good little workout. Monday however (memorial day), was one heck of a painful slog. Granted, I enjoyed it throughly, I just wish I could keep up with the cyclists I pedal around with. I haven't been in very great fitness for a long time, and I certainly haven't put in the effort required to be quick on the bike, but I still ride in hopes of finding great fitness again one of these days.

The ride is what the locals call "The Gauntlet." Essentially, the idea is to summit the three peaks of Provo Canyon. This includes Alpine Loop, South Fork Canyon, and then Squaw Peak. Or, at least that was our route today as we didn't quite summit Alpine Loop Rd. We kinda got impeded.

I got pictures of two of the three summits. Here we are:

This is the entry way into the aspen groves of the Alpine Loop. All seemed good to go to climb it until...
... we discovered that there was several feet of snow in the way still. The line in the snow is where Dan Z tried to ride up to road until he got stopped by the deep snow. This is Dan walking his bike back.

The summit of squaw peak. Take note of more snow. This is May 30th right? If you see my previous post on riding squaw peak, you'll notice the absence of snow. That was only a few days ago.

By this point, I was feeling really dizzy and stuff. I haven't really ridden this hard of a ride in a long time. The good part was that I didn't do nearly as bad as I thought I would. I was, in the end, quite pleased with how I did.

You can check out our riding stats here as Dan Z has this neato Garmin GPS thing that tracks that kind of stuff. Overall, a great 52 miles of riding with some good hard climbing. Love it.

-Syclist

Squaw Peak Nemesis

2011-05-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Prior to my recent trip back east for job related junk, I decided I high time took a trip up Squaw Peak Rd. here in Provo to test my legs against the hill. I have a very bad relationship with this climb. Mainly it has to deal with the fact that my 180 lbs self doesn't go up hills very well as my 168 lbs prior self used to. This climb has always been a really bad climb for me no matter when I've climbed it.

The ride is approximately 4.5 miles of uphill. I am not 100% sure of the average gradient of the climb, but it is definitely one of the steepest that I tackle here in Utah county. However, I have a feeling that Mapleton Canyon is steeper, but I could be wrong about that as I have no way of measuring gradient at the current moment. Needless to say, my average speed is really slow, and my cadence is far from rhythmic as I would normally have on a climb. I'm not much of a sporadic pure climber (usually this is for the little guys who can do constant uphill sprints to get up climbs). I have to find a comfortable rhythm and then lift my pace gradually till I find my limit. I've never really been able to do that on this climb except maybe once.

However, I can report success in my efforts to lose weight and gain some of my speed back on these climbs. The last time I went up this I clocked 42 minutes 34 seconds to get to the top. Any cyclist reading this will probably laugh, but for someone like me (at that time I was about 195 lbs dragging my fat backside up that climb), it could have been much much worse. This time around, I'm happy to report that I tackled it in 35 minutes 32 seconds. Now I call that progress. As the summer continues, I'm gunna keep track of this time and see if I can improve some more. I have high hopes that I can get myself back to a point where I can climb it in sub-30 minutes again. That would be a good feeling.

In other news, my flat land speed is starting to get back up to shape. I managed to get my sprint in between 800 N and 700 N on university from like 10 mph to 35 mph in that block. This is also good progress as I've been having trouble with my speed as of late too.

I really like biking. It is fun.

pics for clicks:

This was the view on Saturday the 21st

I was tired and the grimace on my face show my distaste for the climb. On the plus side, I do enjoy feeling like I'm putting in a good hard effort. I have about 10 more lbs to drop before I can really do business on the terrain around here, but we'll see how far I get to this goal. I still have to look toward getting some longer mileage into the legs.

-Syclist

Upgrades

2011-05-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, the good wife told me that I could purchase some things to upgrade my mt. bike. Well, this is more like update my mt. bike from about 12 years ago. The parts that I've had on my drive train on my bike were so old that when it came time to replace a piece that got bent, I couldn't find any new part that was a suitable replacement. The verdict is that I had to purchase several parts to update the bike out of what would appear to be a stone age... or maybe more like bronze age.

This has all been part of my current ambition to get myself off the road bike and more onto the trails out and about here in the Utah County area. I'll tell more about that later, but first pictures. I mentioned in previous posts how I used to sneak glances at this bike just to admire it when I originally built it up. I've become that silly teen aged mindset again since these last bits of update in parts. It is cool to create and recreate with these machines. This one especially because for me, this bike has a lot of history. Unlike people, despite our best efforts with modern medicine and plastic surgery, you can actually make these like new again. So the underlining idea is creation here. Anyway, pictures...

This is the brand logo for the bike company. The paint job here is one-of-a-kind. I.F. will do any paint job you like if you request it. Mine is blue on black with a cool fade. The paint is a metallic paint, so it reflects light in awesome ways.

Here the bike is on the work stand in the shop. I've removed its cranks and other drive train components. The new bottom bracket and rear derailleur have been installed here. I also took the liberty of putting some chain-stay protection in the form of some old cork tape that was sitting around. Yes, the white will get nasty and muddy, but I'll end up replacing this at some point anyway.

I took this just after I installed the new shifters. I took the liberty to replace the grips too while I was at it. I've been using Ouri brand grips for years and years, but we carry these awesome silicone grips in the shop, so I threw a set of those on for good measure. Those are pictured later.

A close up shot of the new SRAM X.O shifters which replaced my old gripshift Plasma shifters. I've stuck with grippy shift because I find it more versatile and quicker than rapid fire style shifters. However, I find these shifters a tad bit sloppier than my old Plasmas. This is kind of odd because these are technically supposed to be much better? The Plasmas just felt tighter in their shifting accuracy.

Here I got my new grips and the position setup proper. The grips are black and plain looking, but I've never found a more comfortable grip for mt. biking. They feel a lot like silicone laced cork grip you can get from Cinelli for road biking. The thing I like about these is that they won't slip all over the place if they get wet. That has always been a big problem with rubber grips in the past.

The new drive train sports a set of FSA Afterburner cranks. I switched to a crank that runs a double chain ring instead of the more standard triple. I figured two gears was good enough for me. Other changes include a new chain, rear cog set, and a SRAM X.9 derailleur. Changing out the chain was a sad thing for me. Mostly because I had had my old Sachs chain on this bike since I had built it. Through all the crap I put that chain through, it just kept living. I never snapped it once.

The bike in all its new found glory. It is about a pound lighter with the new parts and it has its old sprite handling back. It sure feels good to ride. I can't wait to get it out onto some trails. I've trying to devise a way to hook up a video camera while I ride. I think it would be loads of fun to get some trail reviews goin. I'm still not convinced of the hype of Utah trails, but maybe, just maybe, I'll change my tune here.

So, as I said before, I've been more inclined to hit the dirt for many reasons. Partly because I really miss the thrill of mt. biking. I used to always cross-train mt. bikes with my road bikes back in the day, but I just fell out of it. I've truly missed it a lot. The other part of it is that I've been reflecting on the change of behavior the general populace has been exhibiting in the past 10 years.

I used to never get harassed by motorists, and when it did happen, at least they never threatened my life. That, and I also didn't have much of a care in the world. I've been thinking now, though, that I have a responsibility to my wife. If I were to get killed my a negligent motorist, where would that leave her?

My mind casts itself to the story of an old friend. He was one of the most inspiring adults I have ever known. He worked as a postal worker back in my home town. He used to commute to work by his bicycle every day. One day, he was descending the hill that leads from his house heading towards work when a car suddenly pulled out in front of him. He smashed head first into the side of the car. The driver? Just some unsuspecting teenage girl. She simply didn't look before entering the roadway. In all reality, it was an honest mistake, but it was a mistake that took this man's life.

This really could happen to anyone. It could happen to me, but at least on the dirt trails, I don't have to worry about drivers. I don't have to worry about people throwing things at me, screaming at me, flipping me the bird, blowing diesel exhaust in my face, swerving at me, throwing fireworks at me, and mostly, I don't have to worry about them making my wife a widow.

So, there you have it, I will hit the dirt and return back to the solitude of nature to empty my head of the stresses in this world. That and I'll get nice and fit again someday.

-Syclist

Take that BLOG!

2011-05-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's right, I'm posting again. I have a few noteworthy things to point out.

1. My buddy Taylor (who was also my best man at my wedding) moved away. Funny thing is that goodbyes, even though they suck, with good friends of mine, we have this tendency to treat comings and goings as if someone just pushes pause and play whenever we part/join forces for awesome once again. I have no doubts this will be the same with this fine fellow. He goes off to what I think are greener pastures (no this wasn't an Everson, WA joke, but it could have been). Best of luck my friend.

2. We went to this restaurant called DP Cheesesteaks. Not only do they have fantastic cheesesteak sandwiches, they have this awesome soda.

BEHOLD! Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer!

You know, I never thought the good ol' fashioned Henry Weinhard's root beer would ever get knocked off my "favorite root-beer #1" spot, but this one took the big W for me. It is sweet, has a bit of kick to the flavor, and my favorite part, not a ton of carbonation. It even has a great deep red/brown color to it (mostly due to the hefty dose of red #40 in it, but hey, it looks cool).

3. I purchased some new parts for my mt. bike today. This is monumental because the parts that I'm updating on it haven't been touched in terms of updates since 1999, or 2000 or something like that. In any case, they have lived their life, and will soon retire to my spare parts bin.

My mt. bike is something special to me. I have had the thing since I was round about 15 or 16 years old, it has been on tons of trails with me. I've forded ponds with it, dropped off many water bars, crashed with it, been in all sorts of nasty weather, seen the best days I have ever had on trails, and it still keeps kickin'.

here are some pictures of only a few of my many adventures:

My brother and I went night mt. biking. I remember this trip really well. We saw a moose running in the road, and then I saw a porcupine! I recall yelling to my brother that a bush was walking around, and then I realized what it actually was. I was so shocked!

Here I am hopping around on some rocks at Moab. This was back in like 2006 or something. It was such a fun trip.

Here I am riding up a part of the famed "slick rock" trail they call "The Wall." This was actually my second ascension of it. It sure was super steep, but a really fun experience.

The down low with this bike is that I still look at it with the same boyish gaze I did the day I built it up. I remember distinctly peering into the garage to sneak glances at it and admire its paint (which is 100% one of a kind paint job/design) when I was supposed to be doing my homework. My local stomping grounds in Bellingham, Galbraith, was my playground and ensured creating the best of my awkward teenager years.

I hope to have many, many more good years with this machine. In fact, I will get on with posting some pictures of some new adventures hopefully sooner than later. My only sadness is that I don't have the good ol' boys from back home to join me on them. Here's to you Chris, Jesse, Jared, Tim, Nate, and on occasion Mark.

-Syclist

The Bike Shop

2011-04-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hi,

The only real change in life right now is that in addition to working at my regular 40-hour-a-week job, I now work at Racer's Cycle Service. IT is kind of a return to my roots. I've been biking a lot since I was 14 years old. In fact, the day that got me into it was when my older brother came home one day and said "Sean, you're really fat. You should start mountain biking." I remember working my paper route to purchase my first bike. it was a 1997 (I think) Mongoose Rockadile SX. It was a grand bike. I road it until the tires wore out, I trashed a set of wheels, destroyed the bottom bracket, stripped the chain rings, and killed the rear cassette. Then I upgraded parts.... and the story moves on. (if my cycling history wants to be known, then I can cover that some other post if the demand is prevalent)

Anyway, I work at this shop now. I'm quite happy with the job, and I kinda wish I could just quit my other job and work full-time at the bike shop, but that just isn't in the cards right now with the current financial situation. My full-time work manages the huge portion of the bills right now and actually, for the first time since before I started schooling at BYU, can put money in a savings account.

The work is fun. I have always enjoyed fixing bikes, and when you work at a shop that has proper tools and work space, then all the better. The work flow is the odd part. I've never seen a more, well, let's put it this way, the shop has mastered the art of disorganized organization. The owner knows what's going on with almost every part/bike that shows up in the place. I'm mostly left guessing what the heck is going on half the time, but the best part is, there is always something to be done. I find myself oddly enjoying cleaning up the work bench, sorting spare parts and bolts, and generally improving the work flow of the shop. On top of that, I get to work on bikes.

There is a lot to be said about being able to work with your hands. Working at a computer really doesn't fit my fancy too much, but unfortunately, jobs that pay anything these days will most likely find you behind a computer in some freaking cubicle. It starts to make you feel more like a caged rat. Somehow, I prefer the dirty shop floor under my feet, the smell of rubber inner tubes, and having dirty hands. Yeah, sure, I must sound kind of crazy, but I just like it for some reason.

One of the hard things about working at a shop is that you are around bikes all day. This may sound like a contradiction, but here lies the key. You see really cool new gear coming in all the time. You build all the new, sweet bikes that come straight from the distributors. It starts to get to you like that metal splinter under your finger nail. Then you get lots of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). The difference this time is that I now have a wife that tames my spending urges.

For viewing inquiry, I've been taking quite a fancy to the following items:

The Felt F4:

This bike is such an awesome machine. Light (16lbs), fast, responsive, and well built. You really couldn't ask for a better road bike for all your ambitious speed needs. I've got a good long history on the road bike, and this would be my preferred machine to continue that legacy if I could ever justify spending the money.

There has been a turn for some different thinking on my part these days though. The shop really gears toward the mountain biking scene. I've noticed a general trend as motorist traffic increases. Animosity towards cyclists has also increased. I can't blame some motorists. There is a trend these days for kids/college age children to buy these old fixed gear track bikes and use them for commuting. They also decide that they are above the laws of the road. In turn, it makes life on the open road really bad for people like myself who have put down thousands of miles on roads and now have to deal with the brunt of the aggression the motorists would like to dish out on these fixed gear enthusiasts.

Anyway, before I rant too much, I've been considering going back to my original roots on the mountain bike. Since the mid 2000s there has been this significant change in mountain bike theory. The typical wheel diameter for mountain bikes in the past was 26 inches. In fact, my trusty mountain bike still touts that diameter (not that I could change it without know how to use a welding torch). Today, you can get mountain bikes that have a 29 inch wheel diameter.

The theory is that the taller wheel puts more of a footprint down and gives you the ability to roll faster. The cool thing is that companies are starting to output some really sweet bikes as a result of the change. The one I'm partial to is this bike (which the shop carries):

The Niner Carbon Air-9. This bike has probably some of the sexiest geometry I have ever seen in a mountain bike. It really reminds me of how my current mountain bike is designed. The bike pictured is a single speed. I'd go this route because you can save money from not having to buy shifters/derailleurs, and it is less hassle to maintain. I actually like the idea of this thing being completely ridged. However, for more aggressive riding, you can always keep a suspension fork handy to swap out.

So have I bored you all yet?

I took a few quick photos of the shop. It is a grand place. It is also quite small, and I forgot to get a snapshot of the sales floor.

This is in the back of the shop. Yep, dog kennels. The owner has somewhere around 19 dogs. He used to keep a few at the shop, but since he moved to a bigger place that has lots of land, he doesn't keep them at shop anymore. The plan is to get these kennels out and provide more room for bike storage.

Here are the two work benches. The one on the right is Racer's bench (yes, the owner's REAL name is ACTUALLY "Racer"). He is really tall, hence his work stand is way off the ground. Racer got his name for some obvious reasons of racing a lot, but he worked at a shop where there were 3 people named Jared (his other first name). They ended up calling him Racer Jared, then Racer. People stopped calling him Jared over time and so he decided just to make his name legally Racer.

The bench I work at is on the left. It is shorter because I am not 800 feet tall like my boss. Notice how the actual work benches are a forest of old parts and lube bottles. I'll have to take a picture of the benches once I get it all cleaned up.

Yep, it's a cat. This is Wally. She is our shop cat. Since the absence of the shop dogs, we now have a shop cat. She is super friendly, and I'm always happy to see her greet me when I get into the shop.

So yeah, I'm kind of back in the old roots again. I enjoy it. Now if I could only find more time to actually RIDE my bikes.... What a wicked cycle... You have to work a lot to save money so that you can purchase hobby related items, but the fact that most of your time is spent making money, you don't really have any time to devote to that hobby. This is especially true as responsibility really shifts towards having family.

I stay very optimistic though. I have a buddy back home in B'ham that has 4 kids and still somehow maintains fitness with plenty of time to hit the trails and the road. I suppose it helps that cycling is his only hobby. With me, I also have music that I devote time to. Both are good things, but I fear that time will continue to get cut shorter and shorter with them. Until then, I'll just stay well into my patience as I can. Life does get complicated, but not so complicated that it can rule out improvisation and joy on all the myriad paths.

-S

twenty-eight

2011-03-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me. I'm a little older, and a lot more chunky than I would prefer to be at the moment. Life has not allowed for too much time for the ol' exercising though. But enough of that.

Where to begin. This post is going to have A LOT of PICTURES! So enjoy.

Danelle made this really cool cake the night that I sold our somewhat faithful old car. I wanted to post a picture of it so here it is.

In other news, we recently took a trip to San Marcos to visit family and to pick up our slammin' new ride. Let me just say, I love the Northwest (Bellingham) a whole lot, but San Marcos is quickly climbing my charts as being one of the best places to go. My in-laws have a great home on a little tucked away road. It's peaceful and beautiful. I have yet to come away from there feeling anything but excellent, relaxed, and disappointed that I have to leave. This has somewhat to do with the weather, but mostly, I think, to do with family. I'm quite humbled and incredibly pleased that they are accepting me as part of their crew.

Enough blabber, here are some photos:

In the above picture, Danelle's family (except Melinda) are glued to the computer monitor watching one of the BYU basketball games. Funny enough, I never really had too much school spirit until I was introduced to the dedication this family has to BYU. I approach my now alma mater with more reverence since being inducted into this family.

These next few shots include Danelle's sister and her family. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to catch them during this short visit, but luckily we did. Danelle took a few photos:

Brandon takes good care of Melinda's kids. Here he is keeping Jacob company.

Logan was busy tossing the ol' pigskin around with Nathan and myself here.

Jeremy is the only male that Sophia trusts. All others, she quickly starts screaming and wants her mom. Danelle caught a snapshot of her smiling.

And here Sophia is safely tucked away in her mom's arms.

Nathan is working hard at becoming the next Jimmer. I was more interested in the tangelo tree.

So, we got a new(er) car. A 2004 Infiniti i35. I couldn't be happier with this car. It practically drives itself. I'm really hoping that we don't have bad CARma with this as I have had in the past with my vehicles. I think it will prove to be a lot more reliable since its greatest upgrade is the fact that it doesn't say "Volkswagen" on it anywhere.

Here are some shots of this beast. We recently decided to name it "Falkor" after the luckdragon from The Neverending Story. Danelle's dad took to calling it the Golden Dragon, and we figured the dragon theme was appropriate since the car is quite large for a 4-door sedan, but we needed a name. So, pictures:

So, we hopped into the car and drove it back to Utah. The drive was very comfy. Like I said before, it practically drives itself. For being a massive 3.5L V6, we managed a 28.8mpg on the highway. I'm quite pleased with this. The car comes complete with leather interior, heated seats and steering wheel, sunroof/moonroof, rear passenger window shade (automatically lifts up and down with the push of a button), plenty of leg room for the passengers and a gigantic boot (trunk). This also happens to be the first car in about 10 years that I have owned that has a heater that actually works and has air conditioning. Like I said, I couldn't be happier with it. Oh, one more thing. That engine cranks out 255hp. Yeah, my last car had a third of that power.

The drive home wasn't very eventful. We got caught up in LV because of some Nascar event in Speedway backed up the 15 all the way to Las Vegas proper. That was annoying. It put us an hour behind schedule. Other than that, the trip was smooth as butter.

Here are some scenery pictures:

And here is Danelle looking VERY HAPPY in the new car.

We got back to Provo, and it turned out the next day was my birthday. I was very cranky for some odd reason. I went to work and took care of business at the office. All the while I was really trying to think of what I wanted to do for my birthday. By the time we got around to it, I just wanted to be at home with the good wife. I was not in the mood to be around people in general. So, I got my birthday wish, and we had a wonderful time at home. We picked up some subway sandwiches and simply relaxed.

Me amidst my decorations.

Danelle amidst the decorations she devised.

Birthday Cake...

My cake is on fire!

I got them all of course. Ain't no measly 28 candles gunna tax my lung capacity.

So the next day, since I figure I don't have a car to need to work on anymore, I decided to help a neighbor change out a ball joint and an axle.

I got all greasy. I was trying to get the axle to mount inside the hub again and figured out to use my face to push the strut assembly while I directed the axle in with my hands. It sorta worked. I later had to re-mount the axle because it hadn't seated itself in the transmission properly. I learned something about Honda transmissions the next day nonetheless. The car is up and running great now though.

Lastly, Danelle is working on a commission painting here. It is of a faithful dog that meant a whole lot to the daughter of Danelle's former boss back in San Marcos. I think it is turning out very well (obviously, it isn't finished). I figured I'd post this little fella up.

Wait, I lied, LASTLY LASTLY, we brought back a bunch of lemons and tangelos from CA. Then we juiced them. Here are the results:

Juice a plenty. We are going to save this stuff to make the super secret orange ice for summer months.

okay bye...

The Powers that Be

2011-02-18T23:22:00.000-08:00

I sure as heck don't blog much these days. Quite frankly, I don't have much to tell anyone that isn't family or wife.

I've been waiting a lot lately for a particular job to come to fruition. I have had some tasks that I had to do for said job, and now I get to wait and wait some more. I don't know when I'll hear back from them, but hopefully it will be sooner than later. I'm not getting any younger.

Danelle and I keep growing and learning from each other every day. Not a day goes by that I don't see how amazing she really is. She is so incredibly strong and confident which makes me so happy to see her everyday. There is a lovely line of lyric in a Weakerthans song that says "I wonder why I face, an affectionate embrace." I am ecstatic every time I come home and she gives me a great big hug when I walk in the door.

This is one of those times where things just don't like to stay together. Recently, my little red VW GTI blew a head gasket. I'm debating fixing it at all right now. I know I can do it. I have done much more complex mechanical operations in the past, but the logical side of me asks "why bother, it will just break again in another couple months." So it is down to the debate of whether or not to get a new car, or fix the junker I got. One of these days, we will have to bite the bullet and buy something that will be worth while to last more than 4 months at a time between break downs.

Among my other mishaps was on Valentine's Day there was an unfortunate spill of water on my laptop, but, as you can see, the laptop still lives.

In other news, I started to commute everywhere by bicycle as I had to back in the days of winter semester 2006. Downside is that my bikes weren't in much better shape than my car. On the plus side, they are much easier to fix, much more enjoyable to fix, and stay in order a lot longer than cars do. My only regret is not having paid much attention to them in the past year and a half. I've had some feeble attempts to get my body back into some of its former glory, but alas, I fell short. I currently weigh a whopping 185lbs which is about as heavy as I was when I returned home off the mission. Not to despair though! I've dropped that weight before (3 times in fact) so I must be able to do it again. My time has just been eaten away so much and motivation has been lacking. But it is back with a vengeance. Hopefully I can get my diesel cycling engine kicking again. Either way it will be an adventure!

(Me dinking around at Moab back in Sept 2006)

(Photo: courtesy of Clay, me dieing up Alpine Loop)

The odd thing about cycling fitness is that it changes so drastically with me. When I first got (really) into cycling, I cut my weight down from about 175 lbs down to 145lbs back in early high school years. I was known as a "climber." I could go up mountain passes like they were nothing. I go on my mission and come home and my weight (back in shape again) was around 155lbs. I had trained a little different and gotten a little more power, but I could still climb like a mad man. Years later after floating between 155 and 165 pounds, the summer of 2008 changed the body type again. I did weight training and a lot of heavy power workouts on the bike. My weight then pegged at 170. I only managed to get down to 173 last summer. My cycling abilities have flipped. Once a fast climber, I can't hardly get over the smallest hill without taxing my strength, but on the flats, when I'm trained, I can burn them quicker than ever. Who knows what this next year will hold if I can get myself back into shape again, but my guess is that I'm gunna be much the same as I was last year. I hope to cut my weight back, though, to about 168lbs if I can maintain consistent enough.

So I'm back where I belong on two wheels. I recently overhauled the ol' bikes and made a nice little improvement to the trusty mt bike (which I am proud to announce I have owned since I was 16 years old!).

One thing through all this though, is that there is no doubt in my mind that there are forces at play in life that wish you to be miserable. It used to be common practice for me to think I just had to endure these. The truth of the matter is that you have to push back. Fight back.

-S

Saturday Morning

2010-08-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Now, I'm sure that some folks are just wondering why I never post, but it isn't that hard to figure out. I just don't have that much of anything interesting to talk about or share (or at least I feel worth sharing) with the information monster we call the internet. Plus, it is a question of how much info you really want to share with people these days.

It makes me wonder. The world does keep getting bigger, but at the same time, I feel it gets smaller. We create our own course in this life as a population. We dictate deadlines, how fast things should be done, quality, greed, happiness, money, everything really. The thing I use as the gauge of people's anger in society is how I get treated while I'm out biking. Perhaps it is a really awful gauge, but I consider it accurate.

I've been riding bikes on the road for going on 15 years now, and generally speaking, cyclists aren't really treated very nicely. This is not to say that everyone treats cyclists bad. I still think think the vast majority of folks could give two pence worth of attention to the cyclists they pass by, but there are an increasing amount of people who seem to feel a moral obligation to pestering cyclists. I'm never one to impede traffic. I follow the rules of the road better than most motorists do, and I'm doing my best not to irritate people who are obviously in a hurry to get to wherever it is they need to go. Given all this, I'm seeing a lot more middle fingers and people yelling at me these days. To tell the truth, it really makes me sad.

It makes me sad that people treat others so harshly. I'm just trying to get a bit of exercise and I have to get ridiculed and threatened while doing it. No one deserves it. Makes me wonder if I treat people in a similar fashion sometimes. I sure hope I don't, but seriously. What is so important that we feel we can dish out criticism and harsh words (or action in the case of cyclists) to others? Surely something must urge us to do these things. I think the beauty of being who we are is that we have a choice.

We can choose, and therefore choose to stave off the urge to sour society with incessant bitterness. A little joy can go a long way if we simply choose.

Post Gradmutation

2010-05-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

So,

Again, it has been quite awhile since I last posted... I think. Not that I have too many followers of this and I pretty much just write here when I don't have much of anything else to do that is more appealing.

Graduation went well. Danelle and I walked through commencement and had our own convocations and I felt really quite satisfied at the end. I was really worried about a year ago that I'd get done with everything at BYU and feel like I just wasted my time in terms of education. I've done quite well for myself. Graduated with a decent GPA of 3.74 and I know am good and familiar with about 5 languages, two of which are Middle Eastern related. I've continued to improve on my graphic design/typesetting skills through my job at BYU Broadcasting, and I've started full time for them. I would like to thank my parents, my awesome in-laws, and the rest of my family for the support and congratulations on graduation. Everyone of them made such a contribution to Danelle's and my success in school that in reality, this graduation and accomplishment is every bit yours as it is ours.

The job is more than likely just going to be a temporary situation that will fill in a blank before I figure out what my next step is. Basically, I do have certain specialized skills that can get me a decent job in the working world if I search hard enough for one, but at the same time, I have this little tiny flame in me that tells me to go to grad school. The problem with that is that I want to have some sort of career direction to head into if I'm going to make that jump. I'm really not too sure because I really don't know what I want to end up doing.

In all honesty, the most fulfillment I get out of life besides spending time with my wife is through music. I've been working away reading books and learning music theory in my spare time this past couple years and I've made some good progress. I have learned scale/modal patterns on the guitar and am starting to figure out the inner workings of chords. This has greatly expanded my ability to write, feel, and enjoy music in the long run. Though, my logical side simply tells me that this is a wonderful hobby, but I can't make anything of it besides that. so...

What now? Who knows. I've recently been taking an extensive inventory of my life up until this point and have figured out how to patch some holes that have really bugged me for awhile. I find that as life goes on, the experiences we have often are little windows that show us who we are and what we can choose to become. I think I often close the blinds on many windows that would shine some lovely light into things because I'd prefer to attend to the window later. I really ought to knock that off I think.

In the mean time, if you want to contact Danelle and me, we'll be in the same place for the rest of the summer at the very least. Danelle has to finish up her BFA project and she'll be painting whilst I work full time at BYUtv. Overall, things are going super well, and I'm satisfied, but at the same time, I never feel like I can sit and rest. This life was not designed to sit around and watch time go by. I'm reminded of the lyrics "... and then one day you'll find, ten years have got behind you, no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun..." I really don't want to be in that position. Life is happening all the time. Days are precious, and what you do with that time is critical in every moment. See folks, this is not a preaching session to you as the reader. This is a reminder to myself, and you can take it as it is.

I recently finished a book by Orson Scott Card called "Ender's Game." I would highly highly recommend it to anyone. Excellent story, great character development, and the book touches on practically every serious issue that means anything at all to humanity you could possibly think of. Perhaps I'll talk about it more later, but this was an accomplishment for myself because, seriously, I don't read many fiction books, or books at all for that matter, often enough to call myself an avid reader. I intend on changing that. Come to think of it, I have read more instruction manuals than I have read complete novels in my life. I've read parts of many many books over the years, but I'm talking cover-to-cover things. Sad isn't it? I'm sure some would think so.

Anyway, by now most of you have lost your attention span and clicked on something else, closed my blog window, or something to that like action, so farewell till my next post.

-S

A Little Beef (cycling/community related)

2010-03-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

Alright,

I've been a cyclist ever since I was 14 years old, and I've been riding consistently on roads (in and out of traffic) since I was about 16. One trend I have noticed is that drivers are getting more and more aggressive towards cyclists on the road (yep there are more cyclists due to the rising popularity of the sport and the fitness it provides), but things have been getting more heated quicker, and I think I have found a big reason why.

There has been an increasing trend of commuting cyclists, and most of all, this kind of hipster movement using old 10 speeds and building fixed gear single speed bikes that have started to take shape. I have no problem with people getting into cycling at all. I by no means want to make it an elitist sort of ordeal, but with the sport comes a huge chunk of responsibility. I can't tell you how many times I have seen cyclists blatantly disobey the rules of the road and risk their backsides to run a stop sign, red light, weave through traffic, decide they are all of a sudden pedestrians and use crosswalks, and the list goes on. I'm not surprised that already angry motorists would see this disregard and get even more ticked off. It even makes me mad!

Ever since my days in my biking class in high school, I have made a big effort to obey all the rules of the road as if I were a car (though cars don't often respect my road space, but I can deal with that). At least they don't have anything to say against me tossing the rules of the road out to the side thinking I'm some sort of exception to the rule. This is ridiculous. If you ride on the road, obey the rules. I'm tired of paying the price for other people's disrespect of the road and getting motorists angrier than they already are.

A note for bike use. The usage of what are known as "fixies" (to those who don't understand, these bikes have no freewheel, meaning, you can't stop pedaling them otherwise the rear wheel will stop and skid), anyway, THESE BIKES WERE DESIGNED FOR USE ON A CLOSED VELODROME TRACK AND NOT FOR THE ROAD. How can you expect yourself to be safe when you can't react properly to the constant changing conditions of traffic? These bikes typically have no brakes and can only slow down by skidding like crazy or by decreasing pedal stroke speed. If you want to use a single speed, great, by all means, but use the freewheel side of your hub and get some brakes on your bike for cripes sakes!

Cyclists, we will always have to deal with misbehaving motorists. They are in a big car and we are on a tiny bike. Aggravating them further doesn't help anything. Obey the rules of the road, and ride responsibly.

Drivers, be aware of cyclists. Those cyclists decked out in the fancy spandex usually pay for yearly racing licenses that cost way more than your driver's license and they pay the same taxes for the roads. For both parties involved, usage of the road is a privilege and not a right.

I just had to get this off my chest. Not that anyone who violates this reads this blog, but whatever.

-Sean

27

2010-03-07T16:35:00.001-08:00

Today I turn 27...

I never really thought I'd live this long, so everyday from here on out is gunna be quite the adventure!

If I had a Title, than I would write it here...

2010-01-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

I don't post much, but I have come to the conclusion that my literary sense is severely lacking, so in lieu of that, I submit a bunch of pictures with little descriptions muahahaha!

This first batch came from the time when Danelle was recovering from surgery. She was getting some massive cabin fever so we went for a drive around West Mountain.

My high class VW golf GTI comes with a sweet crank to open sunroof... the best part is that it is still fully functional, so I put it to good use.

This is the lake. I bike out here a lot and I think it is pretty.

The hills are alive...

Danelle is demonstrating how cool the sunroof is.

This is a cement factory I think. I honestly don't know if it is still functional, but I think it is.

OK that was fun. Now onto photos from the winter break... I really didn't take too many.

This is Danelle after all her finals. Nuff said.

This is my favorite picture... I ate 3 pieces of cherry pie, 2 pieces of apple pie, and a piece of chocolate pie... and not one ounce of guilt!

Cara's dog Gus Gus... sweetest dog EVER!

Cara makin' some rolls.

The kids in the play room. From L-R (Rachel, Emily, and Christopher) I don't really have any pictures of Ella, she was mad at me most of the time.

Ahh here is one of the little cranky pants. I think I Danelle took this after she had refused to eat her pie... then I ate it and she got mad.

a picture of my parent's dog Heidi. Stupidest animal alive. This picture is also proof of my dad's ability to sleep anywhere, even with the sun shining right into his face.

My biggest bro Ian, we were on a chairlift up at Mt. Baker.

Me, and the only pic I took of my beardedness. On the chair at Baker.

And finally here is a quick video I took on that same chairlift ride.

Goings on this year? Well, Me and Danelle graduate, and I have to figure out what to do from there. We'll be in Utah until the end of August, that is the only known factor so far.

cheers,
Sean

Maybe I get 1 post a month in?

2009-10-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I dunno really where to start with this, nor do I really have too much to write about, but I'm sure I got some photos around here to share...

First some pictures from Moab:
Ye old campground from a couple summers back... seems fire had altered the spots, but we still found a good campsite.

We went climbing around the rocks, and Ian was visiting. He seemed to be playing secret agent man here.

Danelle and Laura were having fun poking around the rocks too.

Check out my beefy arm!

Jason and I went biking and I got schooled, my excuse was that I had been living in Jordan and eating lots of hummus.

Jason and me.

Some parts of this trail were ridiculous. In fact this was one of the hardest mt. bike rides I have ever done.

Despite what trail guide book said, and even though this trail did follow the ridge, it was not bike-able, even for Jason and I with our superior bike skills... we ended up hiking for several miles and scaling down a few walls before we managed to get to a main road.

We then went with the crew of us (Me, Danelle, Jason, Laura, Ian, Ammon, and Melissa) to Arches National Park and hiked around for awhile.

Das Crüe

neato picture, I put this into KBYU Televsion's magazine for November actually... except I photoshopped out the people that were in it.

sorry folks!
Landscape Arch

Ian in a rock.
Danelle making faces at the camera...

During conference weekend, I reached my goal of being able to drop a good amount the aforementioned weight gain, and Wes Holley and I went up Alpine Loop to give the climbing legs a bit of a dig... it snowed a little, but it was really pretty outside nonetheless:

This was near sundance... I think?

another shot while riding.

I like how the red tree is in this picture.

Wes and me.

Things have been fairly busy this semester even though my workload is lighter from school. I always tend to find things to fill in my time. Mainly it has been getting back to the hobbies I have neglected over the past year (cycling and music), but at the same time, I've been putting a vast majority of time in helping Danelle out with her workload this semester as much as I can. We've been having tons fun together working through her art and graphic design projects.

A small hiccup in the road is that Danelle has surgery this Wednesday (Oct. 21st) to remove a tumor from her left leg. Prayers are more than welcome. We have high hopes that the tumor won't be malignant, and the doctors are pretty confident that it won't be anything to worry about, but there is still a slim chance of things going south. I'll update when later on this week about that.

Finally, I got one more image. I snapped this really quick one day when Danelle had claimed she was gunna go make the bed, but then I found her like this next to the bed.
I just thought this picture was too cute to pass up.

And one more thing... I wanted to make a cyclist related poke at Kanye West too...

Anyway, that's things right now.

cheers,
Sean

Back at the Grind

2009-09-15T17:37:00.001-07:00

So, after all that fun summer of Jordanian Arabic learning and culture, I am, at last, back in Provo and back at the regula' life. I'm only a part time student at the current moment with 2 classes. It is a nice change of pace for myself since I've been taking so many credits in the past 3 years that I currently have racked up about 180 attempted credit hours now at BYU (only 160 of them are graded right now since a lot of them came from my transfer from WCC in WA). I'm so far quite pleased with my results as a student. I've kept my GPA stable at about 3.75 since the beginning of my college career (starting at WCC) and I'm quite satisfied with that. It isn't any 4.0, but I spread myself between a lot of things in my life and it has been a constant give and take with the things I tend to put on my plate. So, I'm quite relaxed and pleased with things as they are.

Thoughts upon returning back to the United States:

I came to the realization of a great many things once I got back to family and familiarity here in the good old US of A. First of all, we have it sooooooo good in this country and I've never had a sense of patriotism and respect for what this country stands for as high as this in all my life. My respect also goes to those who strive amidst such difficult circumstances of culture, oppressive governments, racism, and whatever else people deal with in the Middle East. I really learned a lot in this regard, though, it is only the tip of the iceberg I afraid. I learned much from my several long-houred nightly discussions with my good friend Firas. The things that people have to do in this world, regardless of all his trials, he strives harder than a lot of people I have met in this life. Additionally, I've have seldom met people as content and as happy as that man is.

I knew I missed my family, most particularly my beloved wife. She is the greatest gift I have ever had the chance of receiving in my life. Word to the wise... never spend 4 months away from your husband or wife, but if you do, seal it upon the knowledge of your soul at how precious such a thing is as marriage and a friendship like that are. I learned that every day to serve her is the greatest of all days. To see a smile such as her can cast warmth and light upon the darkest of times.

Plans:

Well, the semester is a pain in the butt for Danelle. Fine arts majors at BYU have a tendency to kick the living trash out of their students. Luckily, with my free-ish time, I can help Danelle out in any way I can, which makes me quite happy. I on the other hand, well, I finally get to be back on my bike again after almost a year and half of dormancy. I have about 10 lbs to lose, which is something I had to do before. In fact, this is the 3rd or 4th time I have had to do this, but the nice thing is that it gets easier every time. The human body can do some really amazing things.

On top of that, I have to start looking at "real" jobs and/or grad school, I have my work at KBYU still going, I do some typesetting for Covenant Book from time to time, I have 2 bands that are starting to kick back into gear with a 3rd one that I just might end up playing for as well. Honestly, I can't complain, life is pretty darn good.

I look forward to seeing how things unfold as the semester rolls on. Most of all, I'm desperately looking forward to seeing my parents and family again this Christmas up in Washington.

BTW: I'm trying to sift through all my middle east photos, and will try and get them up on my photobucket account as soon as I can.

cheers,
Sean

Preparing why are you always preparing... just go!

2009-08-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I'm happy to say that I only have a few more days here; however, I've been swamped with hacking out a bunch of tests lately. It's fine though, honestly, I'm quite content with this because as with all aspects of this odd life, you always seem to have a primary objective in mind, but so many other things are learned when you just keep your eyes open and push through the natural tendency we have to complain and be little babies when things are going to our liking. The more useful things tend to arise when we push past those barriers on a daily basis and discover more and more who we can be if we just choose to and work for it.

I can't tell those who read this how much I appreciate all the help that I have gotten from people by way of prayers, emails, support for Danelle, and everything else. Of all the things that I have gotten out here is a corrected perspective to life, and for those who read this, please allow me to relate what I learned.

It seems to me that an increasing pressure on this world is the push to have a career. Career, yes, we must have work because we need to earn money to survive; however, I find it a push to career as a way of defining who you are in terms of prestige, power, influence, and ego. This has become a more apparent thing to me living here because the other day our group of students decided to clean up a field that is next to the main apartment complex where most of the students and the accompanying professors live. We got garbage bags and began to sweep the field clean of old bottles, cigarette boxes, newspapers, and whatever else was present there. Soon, we realized that a lot of people were stopping in their cars and watching us do this with this utmost confused look on their faces. Let me explain the observed reason after relating this story to a couple Arab friends of mine.

In Jordan, there exists a VERY clear line(s) that define class and status. The people that clean garbage off the streets and fix the sewer system are primarily Egyptian or Jordanians of very low class. Therefore, people of upper classes wouldn't fathom ever touching a piece of garbage because it is below them. So, back to our little group, how could a group of high class westerners bring themselves down to the level of cleaning up garbage?! Well, there exists this mentality in a very raw form. I can't tell you how many college graduates, many with masters degrees, I have talked to here who drive taxis. There is very limited work, but people pride on their education and if you have a high position to accompany that position, then you stand above those around you in prestige, power, authority, influence, and ego.

So, I feel very strongly that this mentality also exists among those in the American side of things. We worry constantly about what we are doing for work, what we study in school in terms of career attainment, and though many wouldn't admit it, we worry about how people think of us in those definitions as well. I have witnessed leadership social circles, and mostly, eavesdropped on many conversations amongst "intellectuals" and hearing them boast of themselves and their talents is almost a sickening sound, and so what? In the end, to me, and after long periods of thought on the subject and putting things together, I see that career is not the nucleus of someone's life, and never ought to be.

For me, a career and this prestige often distracts people and we have a tendency to miss out on the more precious parts of life. I'm coming up upon my 1st year wedding anniversary, and I am only barely seeing the immense worth of what marriage and family is in life and beyond. Careers will come and go, and silly degrees that we invent to give ourselves a label only mean so much, but what of our relations with others, and what of our families? Our focus on our families really ought to be the central thing in life, and the career ought to be means to provide for that central piece.

There is the other side to this society that I have grown to love. You see how close families are here and you really sit back and observe how they are with one another and you just can't help but feel overjoyed to see such love and genuine concern between family members. This element is hard to see in America these days, but it isn't dead there either, its just kind of asleep in a lot of places.

Touching on those who are blessed to be the intellects, leaders, and the like, I would like to share another thing I have observed. I feel that I carry a certain degree of intellect, but after interacting with people out here, students in my same program, and especially the professors that are with us from BYU out here, there are those who have an extremely high amount of discipline and intellect that I probably won't ever touch. Honestly, I have been blown away by these people and I stand in awe of what their minds do and what they are capable of. On the flip side, what a responsibility! They can perceive beyond many other minds, solve issues, and attain intellectual skills, but for what? These professors have been amazing at serving the students on the program here, and it dawned on me that this is the same duty of all those other intellectuals I have come across both directly and indirectly in my life. There are those that believe that their intellect gives them prestige, power, and authority, but it can also give them an egotistical pride elevating them above the person that delivers their mail, farms their grain, or fixes their sewage lines. In reality, it seems to me, that it should be a reciprical service. The person who labours to keep everyday life running serves those around them, likewise, the intellectual endowed with great gifts is put in a place to lead and provide back to those people their freedom to choose what they wish in their life and prevent outside influences from infrindging on their joys in life. Thank goodness, there are people in this world that work this way.

I'm looking forward to being back with my simple joys in life. I am beyond words to tell you all how joyful it will be when I can see my wife's smile again physically right in front of me. Secondarily, I look forward to getting my body back into shape and spending time on my old bicycle. Thirdly, I look forward to expressing the feelings on my soul again through music. These are my simple joys, but all in all, it's my family that brings me the most joy.

cheers,
Sean

Tired

2009-07-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

As much fun as this trip has been, and yes, I have enjoyed myself and I have learned a lot, but I seriously am tired and I've had almost all I can handle. I'll be overjoyed to step onto that plane when the time comes and bid this place good-freakin-bye!

Adventures, Frustrations, and a Change of Head

2009-06-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

(At this sign, you are at sea level, anything below it, you are now under water.)

I've been trying to post something new for ages, but my internet connection has been less than adequate to do so. Here's whats up...

I've been told that I'm about halfway done with this Middle Eastern trip. I've had quite the experience so far, but there is still plenty of work left to be done, not to mention plenty of thinking and planning to do for the not so distant future.

Here is the shake down of things so far. Classes are still moving on and all the language learning is fun and frustrating as ever, but like every skill it just takes time and practice. I'm really quite amazed at how many brilliant people we have out on this program actually. Dr. Parkinson (the program director and the accompanying professor) likes to keep reminding us that no matter how bright of a star you might be, there is always gunna be another one brighter. Its not exactly the most motivating thing someone can say, but its an interesting realization in the long run. I've learned over these past couple years that I'm not the fastest of learners, but when I acquire a skill, I seldom forget how to do it even if it goes unused for a long time. So overall, the learning experience is good, but the most important part to things is to just never shut down. Our natural tendency as humans is to not think that a day/hour/minute that goes by really doesn't matter in the long run. This may be true for certain circumstances, but when it comes to language learning, training your body, or learning anything in general, those little lost minutes and days can add up quite quickly. If its one thing I have definitely learned from these past years in school is that those lost days have really seemed to catch up with me now. Fortunately, the damage isn't as bad as I would previously think and catching myself up to a point of decent proficiency is not out of reach, but might take more effort than I can honestly output at this time. We'll have to see what happens in the next 7 weeks.

I've done some more touristy things as of late. I went and saw the Byzantine traditional baptismal site of Christ, floated around in the Dead Sea, and did a mud skin treatment thing there as well. It was quite entertaining.

I'm helping my buddy Patrick with his mudding, and I drew on myself too. I eventually got all covered too. Apparently people at spas in the USA pay upwards to $300 for this mud that gets shipped all over the world. It cost about $5 american here, which is still a total rip off, but this was the only way to get sifted mud that didnt have giant jagged pebbles in it.

I also went to this gorgeous slot canyon (Yancy you would have loved this) called Wadi Mujib. I had a blast as it had been my only close encounter with the kind of nature I have really grown to love in the past ten years. I dunno why but desert just kinda teaches you how much fun romping around in fast moving canyon water can be! That place is by far my most favorite thing have have visited since coming to the middle east.

This is the entrance to the Wadi, absolute heaven given the Dead Sea is only about half a mile from here.
I hid myself behind a waterfall in this picture. I sat there for a good 15 minutes enjoying this little cubby space.

In other news, I'm contemplating saying farewell to my head of hair. I knew that the day would come since I was about 17 years old and noticed my hairline wasn't exactly where it used to be that I would eventually fall victim the wonderful thing the male human species has come to know as male pattern baldness. Luckily, I've been anticipating this for a really long time and it really doesn't come as a shock to me. So, I always decided that when the time came, I would just cut it super super short and bid goodbye to my hair until the resurrection. I still haven't been able to bring myself to bust out the clippers yet, but it will probably happen when I'm feeling spontaneous.

oh life is the greatest of journeys. It's tough to have to travel sometimes without a best friend. I've been a few months away from my bestest friend in the entire world, and it's been a rough journey. I would like to thank all those who have extended their thoughts and company to Danelle over the past couple of months. It has been a huge help for her and a calming hand for me to know that she was well taken care of while she finished out the Spring term. She's back in San Diego with family for the rest of the summer and working part time until I return back to the good ol US of A.

Cheers,
Sean

Location, Classes, and Things in General

2009-05-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile, but here is what is going on:

Our trip through Egypt ended as we went and visited St. Catherines's and Mt. Sinai. We then spent some time at a resort in a town near the Red Sea, whose name escapes me at the moment. It was really quite nice, save for the less than modest Europeans walking around on the beach. However, I can now at least say that yes I swam in the Red Sea. The water was gorgeous and quite refreshing.

We had a nightmare of a ferry boat ride across the Red Sea into Aqaba, Jordan. We stayed the night there and I quickly found out that the food in Jordan is much better here than in Egypt. We then took a bus up from Aqaba to Amman where I am currently at, and will be until I leave for the USA August 12th.

Classes here are interesting. Some of the teachers are out of a very traditional Arab mold in their style of teaching which constitutes them being the dictator on the stage and you just do what they tell you... It's kind of lame, but after taking the Farsi classes at BYU and also the Poli-sci class last fall, I'm used to this teaching style. The workload is tough, but I am really happy to have it because it is making me stretch. Despite how much I resent the work, I know that I'm gaining a lot from it.

Church here works a little differently than in the States and in other places in the world. Since this is a Muslim country, the "Sabbath" day is Friday in Islam. Fridays are really nice here actually. Everyone here sleeps in, and the city is really calm all day. Makes me wish that the States would be more like this on Sunday, but commercialism continues with its hussle and bussle. Church is only 2 hours long and there are two branches in the area. One is in Amman in the neck of the woods where the US embassy is and is in English, and the other is an Arabic speaking branch in the province of Irbid. I signed up to see if I will get chosen to work with the branch in Irbid. I felt prompted to it though half of me really really really doesn't want to. I have been struggling with my motivation for this language all year though and my best and most effective motivation is if my responsibility is to the church and its progress. I will keep you all posted on what happens there if anything. Regardless, Fridays are really nice here.

Jordanian Arabs are comprised of many Arab nationalities. The majority are definitely from refugee Palestinian heritage. I have yet to meet someone who isn't Palestinian except for this one guy from the UAE who was asking me where things were in the city thinking I was Jordanian for some reason I don't know why. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a hot issue to talk about. I really hold now sided opinion about the subject so I find it interesting to hear what they have to say about it. I met a kid on the Jordan University campus that plays flamenco guitar. His name is Omar Darras, and he studies computer science and accounting. We're going to hang out more and teach each other about our different guitar playing styles. He's gunna help me with my Arabic as well. Overall, Arabs are really nice and curteous. I can tell sometimes that they are curious to talk to me, but they are just as nervous to strike up a conversation as I am to strike one up with them. My speaking ability is getting better, though my comprehension is really weak. I think that in a few months, however, that I will see some really significant improvement. I have to keep my work going though.

I'm uploading my pictures I took in Egypt to my photobucket account and I'll send emails to people with the album password so you can view them. There are a lot of them though, so enjoy!

Here are some photos that I have yet to get on the sight but I will very soon:

(coming soon!)

take care,
Sean

Welcome to the Middle East

2009-05-03T04:25:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I have a lot of catching up to do, and this is the first time I've actually had a strong and consistent enough internet connection in order to post some pictures and let folks know what I've been up to here. Here is a list of the things that I've seen in my time in Egypt:

-the step pyramids at sakkara
-the pyramids at Giza
-Cairo
-Luxor
-valley of the kings
-Karnak temple
-experienced the night train between cairo and luxor twice
-Khan al-Khalili
-Islamic sites in Cairo
-Mount Musa (traditional mt sinai)
-the burning bush (again traditional)
-true arab culture for the first time

There has been almost too much to explain, but this has been an incredible experience thus far. I have a lot of work to do before I get to a point where I am comfortable with my Arabic abilities, but I have plenty of work ahead of me once we reach Jordan. We'll be in Jordan on Monday the 4th.

I need to give a huge thanks for those who have been looking out for Danelle. We both appreciate it a lot for all the help we've gotten while we work through this short period of time apart from each other.

Anyway, here is a good mess of photos that I've taken:
Egypt is known for its huge bureaucracy... there are armed soldiers everywhere here.
some light cairo traffic
the step pyramid at sakkara
Ramses II statue in Memphis
Karnak temple in Luxor

the sphinx
The second largest of the pyramids at Giza
Junk vendors all over the place... these people really ruin the experience in my opinion.
the pyramids at Giza

Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo

Cairo from the top of a minaret

A night train...

me at karnak in luxor...

so there ya have it... I'll get some more up later.

-Sean

Love

2009-04-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

A day I thought would never come

2009-03-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

So,

After watching the past 4 new episodes of the Simpsons and seeing a little added element to them that they've never really done at all in the past 19 seasons of the show, I've decided enough is enough and I'll never watch another episode.

cheers,
S

Yet Another Birthday, Yet Another Concert

2009-03-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

We played what had to have been one of the funnest shows ever. For me, I've honestly never had a better time on stage. Jason is playing bass with us again and Taylor, Will, and myself have taken over vocals since Jon left on temporary other endeavors. Mom, I gotta thank you for your famous chocolate chip cookies...

I had this great idea the night before to bribe the audience... Probably the best idea I have had. Essentially it works like this... When in Rome, do as the Romans do... OR Since we are in Provo and surrounded by folks of LDS nature in religion, do as they do and ensure that there are refreshments at any social gathering if you want it to be a success. Needless to say, I'm baking cookies for every show from here on out when we play locally.

Jason!

Jason, again, and his "used car salesman" look

Me looking like a professional and stuff.

Again, trying to be professional.

And the whole crew, from left to right... Me, Will Walden, Jason, Taylor McCarrey

I love playing music more than most anything on this planet. So much fun!

In other news I turned 26 a week ago saturday. I had a nice Birthday with Danelle! She is the best! She decorated the house and wrapped my couple little gifts and made me a devil's food cake. I got a "Build Your Own Clone" overdrive pedal kit and a Tour de France DVD.
Presents for me! Swedish Fish too!

CAKE! we forgot to get enough candles but oh well.

This is the almost naked circuit board to my effects pedal I built... At this point I had only soldered in the resistors.
At this point I had completely populated the circuit board and had it ready to start the wiring process. I didn't take any more pictures of this process because it was hard enough keeping track of where all the wires went, but the project came together quite nicely and I had it in time to use for the show... I love this pedal!

hahah I took the pic on the stove top cause its the only place where i could get sufficient light to do it... Basically I wired it together and painted it Ford Cobalt Blue... unfortunately, it chipped a little, but its a stomp box and won't look all that pretty in the not so distant future anyway... and I can just paint it again someday if I want to anyway.

cheers,
-Sean

Go Toyota

2009-03-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

Taylor introduced me to the absolute coolest tv show ever... its a BBC series called Top Gear. They recently tested the durability of an older Toyota pickup truck... here are the results:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

I would have embedded it but it was disabled. Enjoi!

Nothing worthy of Blogging

2009-02-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

I really don't have much to say as of late.

Here is an update:
-I was sick at the beginning of the semester
-I was unmotivated with my arabic homework
-I realized that I really don't like arabic as much as the major wants me to like it
-I found that I don't want to do anything with Arabic (scholastically) after I'm done at BYU
-I like Persian and Persian culture much better... well anything pre-1979 revolution
-Danelle and I have been really busy
-I love Danelle lots and lots and lots and lots and lots
-I found that I like to play the guitar waaaay too much
-I haven't been riding my bike as much as I would like to
-I found that the Arabic program at BYU consumes your life
-I really want to build one of these
-I'm selling my current guitar amp in hopes to do that
-I turn 26 years old in a week and that bugs me
-I have really gotten into Pink Floyd and Nada Surf lately
-I have rediscovered how much I love scripture study
-I lost my Peruvian bracelet that I got on my mission
-I purchased a batch of 25 peruvian bracelets on ebay for $8

Danelle:
-Drawing a lot cause her art classes are uber demanding
-She hates a couple of her professors a whole lot
-Enjoys her many plants around the house
-Her tropical banzai tree is actually surviving the winter months
-She is really good at tolerating my stupid little quirks
-She never gets sick, but she has trouble sleeping sometimes
-She is trying to get better about waking up in the morning and getting to class on time

Anyway, thats kind of a cop out list so I don't have to write all that much in a story like format.

here is a picture of my Peruvian bracelets:

And this is a picture of the happiest fish I have ever seen!

This dude is by far my favorite guitar player of all time:

My Hero's Birthday is today:

Happy Birthday Dad!
Love you lots!

A Request from News Agencies

2008-12-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that I've finally kept the goal of reading world news stuff on a daily basis. I never really read the news much until this past semester, and up till now its been more depressing that uplifting. The thing is, I know good things happen in the world... not just like little johnny helped the old lady across the street stuff, but good things on a large scale. I would argue that if we as citizens of the world could hear about good things more often, then people would be a little better.

Read THIS... The thing I like about it is that it gives a good message besides just a human interest story.

Happy Holidays.

A Touch of Fun

2008-11-30T00:14:00.001-08:00

I just had a bit of fun today. I'm really tired, but I had a full day. I woke up and gathered my music gear together and rehearsed with Ghost in a Jar (a band that I'm guest playing in for an indefinite amount of time) because we had a show to play tonight at Provo's prestigious Velour Music Gallery (slight sarcasm). I've always been pretty impressed with the place because it has decent sound equipment and has a good atmosphere, for which i give many kudos because usually provo doesn't feature stuff like that in its venues. Its good fun and I enjoy playing with them. Though it is very different from what I'm used to playing. I'm basically just doing rhythm guitar work which is a flip side to my normal lead guitar style of playing. Anyway, after that I went biking with Jason, and we decided a good ride to do would be up Squaw Peak... so we did that. I got home, cleaned up, and rested a bit. Then it was off to sound check for the show. We were pretty chill even though the bass player was still outta town. We played pretty well I think. People liked the music so that was good. I split my index finger open on the guitar though and bled all over the pickups, strings, and the guitar itself. I felt kinda hardcore, and kind of like an idiot at the same time. Oh well, but here are a few pictures.

Squaw Peak... no snow... end of November?!

Jason and I, triumphant on the mountain top...

My finger... I would have taken a picture of the guitar, but its black and you can only see the blood spray patterns in the right light, but needless to say, Its gunna take a bit of cleaning.

We played with a band called Quasi Stellar Radio tonight. Basically, seeing what they pull off live and how well they play makes me wanna quit playing guitar. Simply amazing.

peace out.

PS. Here is what the guitar looked like... rock on and stuff hahaha.

Nuff Said

2008-11-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

INTJ

2008-11-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

I woke up considerably frustrated today. Amongst all the corpses and feces strewn across the political battlefield and among the current aftermath of liberal vs. conservative, I find myself rather indifferent. Quite frankly, I wish I could just check out from the war of opinions and arguments. I was caught in it myself last week with a fellow student talking about the proposition 8 issue (which I found myself arguing for it quite rashly)... I feel really stupid about it. Not because I wished my opinion I stated were different, but because I got caught up in discussing it at all.

A good friend of mine from school (Mark Forslund, should you know him) wrote a poem around 8th grade or freshmen year in high school entitled "the beach." My thoughts turn to that poem where I remember the last couple lines:

Glorify war or glorify peace,
you want me?
I'll be at the beach...

Its fun that we get to choose our intellectual path in life, I think. We get to tie ourselves down with philosophies and what we like to think are "the facts," or we can choose to just live and realize that, regardless of religion or whatever you want to call it (I have a philosophy about the term religion and its birth, use, and reason for the word), there is something more than just facts, empirical data, and possible conjectured futures. Maybe its part of being a musician, but there is a piece of life that must be lived by your impulse. The problem is the dichotomy within oneself. Again, regardless of belief, we all deal with this. There is the impulse to be lazy, do the easiest thing. Take for example exercise. We all want to be in shape, and our physical selves desire it, but there is a piece of us that will try and convince us to instead go watch a movie, veg-out, brood over how much life sucks etc... You will find this two-sided argument within yourself almost everywhere you turn. You cannot hide from it, and you can't ignore it. The question is: What side do you follow?

Now, this almost sounds like schizophrenia in a way, but it really isn't. We don't have multiple personalities, but we do have what I see as three different factors in us. Yeah, you think "duh Freud, what a revelation Sean... way to go!" but this is more than just an id, ego, and superego issue. Mainly because this deals with more than the predisposition for sexual impulses. It goes much deeper than this.

In my short time alive, I have noticed that you can change who you are... your core of what makes you who you are. I know by looking back on things I have written (when I was in high school and started to form a personality), that I was choosing day to day to be a certain type of person. Choices have a tendency to compound themselves within our own fibers of personality to form who we are. Its interesting to note that our minds at any point can, if we desire, step back and evaluate who we are and where we are possibly going. Its in these moments we make a choice.

After serious struggles with many things in life, aspirations, desire, habits, both good and bad, I decided to shift my life's course. Why is this? why did I decide to more actively follow the religion I grew up with? The answer is simple and complex at the same time. First of all, i have to address the word religion.

Being a language geek, I enjoy the etymology of words just as much as the next person. I keyed in on the word "religion" as of late. The term these days will spawn a whole host of cutting curse words when uttered. In a Semitic context, the word for religion is pronounced "deen" and shares the root in common with the word for debt, granting credit (power, allegiance), loaning, to owe something etc... Which can make you strain the argument for or against religions as a whole... but really, religion is a term coined to make a system of beliefs seperate from ones life... almost like an extra-curricular obligation. Whats the reality of religion? well, even if you call yourself an agnostic, atheist, or whatever else (mormon, muslim, jew, bhuddist, bahai, non-demoninational christian), we all adhere to a systematic set of beliefs. Your life is religion... its something that you will change as you grow, experience, learn and live.

So, why my decision? Simply this... the compounded life experiences and principles that I had learned to that point jolted my self evaluation of my life. What was my current state (depressed, unhappy) even though back then I had a lot going for me from an outsider's point of view. All those temporal successes meant nothing to me. I forsaw that this state of being would be perpetuated (so my personal impulse had indicated to me). What do I want to become? how do I do this? I knew certain things were true in my life, they seemed to relax my mind whenever I would stick to those principles. Other things left me feeling empty. So as my personality would dictate, I scientifically put it to the test. The result after about 6 years of this test? I finally have the foundations set in my life that I know, regardless of what happens to me, family, and my circumstances, I will be happy with whats happening because success rests within oneself. My mind is clear and straight. Though I may not have the years of experience as other folks may have, I can rest assured on how I will dictate my life. My religious beliefs aren't an extra-curricular thing that gets tabbed on to my intellect... its a part of me because I have cultivated it to be that way. Its my choice... I am no product of a system, I am not any droned out automatonic robot produced by a religious based factory. The truth of it is that neither are you. Patterns arise in our behavior because we choose to follow the examples of other people and from what we learn and observe. You are you and what you choose to believe and practice will form who you are in character. You get to choose what that character will be, and thats the beauty of this life.

So, amongst all the opinions and politics, I wish to act and change myself, educate myself, and refuse to re-affirm that by arguing with people. I will speak with my actions and what results from my choices will be my supporting evidence.

Stand there and point fingers all you want... mine will only fret with guitar strings as my improvisation to life drives me forward.

and if reading all that wasn't enough... you can go here and learn about what INTJ is... and other types too.

Thinking of the Rain

2008-10-22T01:58:00.001-07:00

I decided to stay up late (dumb idea) and play guitar a lot... I finished up the preliminary parts to a song i wrote last year called Rain Meets Leaves. you can hear it at my stupid indy myspace page.

cool.

We are alive... yep...

2008-09-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi I don't have tons of time to really write much, but I thought I would post some pictures just so you knew I was still alive and well...

The wedding and reception(s) went really really well. A huge thanks is deserved for both of our families for all the hard work and sacrifice that went into pulling it all off.

Here are pictures from the Olympic peninsula in Washington and Carlsbad beach where we honeymooned... and on the last night just about burned down the bed and breakfast we were staying at in Clallam Bay. I'll have to tell that story in another post.

So... Enjoy!

The picture above was not photoshopped... that is looking straight into natural spring water in the rain forest... cool!

If you have anger, you really are sick with a cancer

2008-07-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

I have learned the price of anger by my experiences today. Well, I guess today finally strung a whole series of things together that have made me think really deeply. I'm still not sure how to feel about it, but it sure has me all sorts of pondering. The Events:

1. I am selling the black VW that i spent all sorts of time and money on... I know what I have done to the car, and I know that its a good car. I have a lady and her son come and look at it today... they take it for a test drive... the kid barely knows how to drive clutch and stalls it a million times and burns my clutch quite badly. They come back and they are angry, especially the mom saying that I false advertised the car and that its a piece of crap. She complains of a smell which I quickly identify and tell her that its the clutch disk... the car wasn't slipped properly at all and he burnt material off the disk. She refuses to believe me and insists its the car meanwhile getting really mad... I stay calm and just sit back puzzled at how angry she was. I tell her that I'm sorry I offended her, but I've been working on VWs for a long time and do know at least a little about cars. She insists that I don't know anything and that I'm trying to cheat people out of money... That hurts my character a bit. Not very much fun... i begin to reflect on my own pride.

2. Apparently, someone came up to Bethany (little sis) and asks if my parents were around. She says no and that they aren't back from work yet. They proceed to tell her that we are responsible for leaving windows open in an "activity center" they have here and stealing towels from the guest apartment. A seriously gross jump to conclusions. Later on, my dad goes to talk with them... a HUGE argument is created... Accusations of thievery, and lying... all because of pride... someone wants to be right so we can justify getting mad...

In my short life i have found that anger is very rarely justified... if ever. Its the easiest thing to default to concerning our emotions when we don't get our way. I can honestly admit that I am VERY much not exempt from that. Those who know me best know that I have an explosive temper... it was almost unbearable when I had less discipline as a kid. I find it creeping its way into my life still, however, I propose this...

I am thankful for todays events and I'll tell you why. Because I have learned to target my own anger. I learned while I was in Florida teaching people truth that there truly is no convincing someone of something. You can "sell" someone something but that is often very superficial. Only individuals are the ones that make the choice whether to get mad, change, or not change. I choose to change. I am happy that I can pinpoint these vicious cycles and break them even if it is just little old me.

Anger is a cancer, I'm cutting mine out.

and another and another!

2008-06-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well,

i just wanted to inform that my project car days officially ended yesterday. I bought my first reliable, non-modified car. A totally stock 1991 VW GTI. I got a good deal on it, it runs perfectly, and has 100,000 miles on it. fun stuff

All purchased for the tiny sum of 2,400... came complete with brand new brakes all around, brake booster/master cylinder, new headlights, grill, new seals, new running belts, and a lovely matching interior.

Long time no post

2008-05-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hey,

So here is a rough summary of what I have had in the past little while... more like an itemized list:

-Finished out the semester
-brought a car back to life
-drove it home crossing my fingers the whole way
-started work at Premier Graphics
-Continued work for BYU Broadcasting
-started getting my butt back into some sort of shape (well, my kind of "in-shape")
-Finding myself to be a bit on the lonely side of things missing my beloved Danelle who is i long ways away from me in San Diego

Its proven to be a very interesting past little while. I found myself at ends with the car that I was working on, but it really taught me a new level of patience I never knew I had. I made it home which is the important thing.

On a sad note, I have had a reality check with life on several levels in the past couple weeks. The bishop who was rather influential for me in my life was killed while riding his bicycle to work while going downa hill i have ridden down hundreds of times. It hit me that of course its tragic that he passed away, and that this would alter the course of several people's lives; however, I have also gained a new appreciation for how fragile our existence is. I think about Danelle and how much she means to me and I think of how much risk we are really in, and that really the light of our lives can be snuffed out so fast. Then I think about how that shouldn't really make us live in fear. My friend Jared and I were out riding our bicycles today, and, to give a touch of background, Jared served in Iraq as a hospital corpsman. He has seen people lose their limbs and their lives. He just mentioned that he understands the feeling of losing someone like that, but at the same time, that doesn't mean we need to live afraid of everything.

I'm sure if we were to get the explanation of everything in life all at once, we still would ask why. As for me, it gives me several perspectives on things. The most important being my approach to what my life with Danelle will take on. I would hope that we (all inclusive statement) could really take a second look at those who are around us and realize that we really need to let them know how we feel about them, and not only that, cherish our time with them.

I have been away from Danelle for several weeks now, and I feel like half of me exists here in Washington and the other half is in San Diego. Despite that things don't always work out the way i have planned, i still can't help but feel that with the introduction of Danelle into my life, I have been blessed well beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. I gotta keep that perspective, especially when life doesn't do what I expect. I'm content to know that she will be there, God willing.

We were walking around rock canyon here.

a walk around in the cold of winter

need i say more?

well i guess i could give the date... August 16th, 11:00am in the San Diego Temple...

Here:

degagne

2008-03-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

I bought a ring and asked a yes or no question... I got a yes. More information to follow later.

Here is a picture of the ring:

Carbon Monoxide... the silent killer

2008-02-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Thought you might want to know that our furnace at my house got shut off today. Apparently we have been suffering from mild carbon monoxide poisoning ever since I moved in here. Isn't that great?!

that explains all my chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and all that fun stuff for the past year or so.

toyz

2008-02-16T16:40:00.003-08:00

I finally bought the final addition to my amplifier... It makes lovely sounds now.

Tech Geek info:

the amp is a:

Traynor ycv80 with the 2x12 expansion cab running all Celestion 70/80's

I removed the poop Sovtek tubes and replaced them with a set of matched JJ tubes from eurotubes.

I'm running my 1980's telecaster with a few pedals in the string (delay, flange, and an EQ pedal)

Some might say this is a poor man's Fender Twin knock off, my argument is that this is an amp worthy of its own classification since to me its more versatile than the Fender Twin minus the expense. its not quite identical to fender clean, but its my perfect kind of clean.

On another note, Everson (the band in which I am involved) is cooking up some very exciting fun. We'll keep you posted but this could be very fruitful for us. In the mean time, if you want a cd, then let me know.

-S

late night delight

2008-02-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

Its 1:11 am as i write this. I can't seem to get to sleep, and I've been milling over a lot in my mind. I'm realizing each day as I sit in my classes that I really don't care much for being in school anymore. Formal education has left me a bit jaded at the current moment.

I read this quote:
"The ancient scholars studied for their own improvement. Modern scholars study to impress others."

I find this statement to be rather true these days. Oh well, the world says to get an education so therefore I will. Its hard to see if what I'm studying will bring much good. I keep thinking about being a working stiff and the mere thought gives me a knotted stomach. Its almost like i constantly feel like this:

I really wish i could get this puzzle together.

Oh and there are sometimes where I feel like this:
I can't complain though really. I continually get humbled by the fact that there are those that deal with way more than myself yet they pull it off cheerfully and successfully. I wish I knew:

But I dunno if there really is just one.

-S

سرم درد میکنه

2008-01-24T13:17:00.001-08:00

So here I am at work... We used to have a lot of writers here usually... and another designer, but no one comes in these days. Its usually just my boss and I and she is in another room connected to mine. I'm not gunna complain, this is probably the most relaxing job I've had... well it is fairly relaxing except for the end of the month when all the magazine stuff is due... I invented some new co-workers of mine. This was a habit picked up from my days working at Premier Graphics. My old boss, Douglas, had this toy cars he would play with when he was waiting for the slow computers to render graphics or compile pdf's... I wonder if I can use some more ellipsis in this post... so yeah, meet, Mr. Head, the Trooper, and Cuddles the Gorilla... yeah I'm crazy... especially when I have dizzy headaches. WEEEEeeee!

Oh and I found this picture of me with a wicked farmer tan from last summer

hahaha... and hahaha...

...
...
...

Terms

2008-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

Christmas break was a fun experience. I finsihed off my last final (Arabic) and ran back home to throw my bags in the car and take myself and my roomate Taylor to the airport. We went home and had some laughs. It was one of the most quiet holiday seasons I have had. Christmas Eve was spent at my sisters place:
Theres all the kids except little Christopher who I think was still messing around with one of th gifts that he got. My sisters family is hilarious. Every kid has a very distinct personality. They sure are funny. I got a picture of the newest edition. She was in this maggie Simpson style thing (it has no legs and feet in the outfit so it was kind of this little bag with arms).
And Little Rachel got this princess dress up thing that she went ape shiz over.
The next day my oldest brother Ian and I took to the stove and made lamb chops brazed in a cranberry/apple type sauce and I used my Arab skills and made filafel فلافل

It was a delicious meal. The next few days were spent working and hanging out with buddies, that and trying to find a good gift for Danelle. Unfortunately i didn't get pictures of what I picked up for her, but I chose well cause she has been wearing them (whew). oh, i almost forgot, I was down in Portland the weekend before Christmas for a Strait A Students show. It was very interesting and made me not want to drive at all for the rest of my life (or at least for the vacation).

Here is a random pic of Ian and I at his new bachelor pad. We watched the Simpsons movie on his huge tv, it was a rather pleasant evening. I think we went to the Rogue Hero (bar) after that and I sat there and saw a bunch of people from high school and just kinda watched all the social pickups people were doing to try their luck at one night stand relationships for the evening. Ian and I were pretty tired so we didn't stay long, and he made plans for later on that night.

So, there were a few days of snowboarding too... here are those pictures:
My friend Jesse, this guy is a character. If this guy can't make you laugh, you have something wrong with you.
This was a buddy of my friend Chris who was riding with us. I love the Cascades cause they get sooooo much snow.

If you look at this picture, you'll probably recognize the mountain... its supposed to be in the world's top 3 most photographed.
Here is a picture of my friend Nate... we took a day and hit the slopes... needless to say it was my better of the two days boarding.

Me and my beard I was growing...
To finish things off, my dad (turns 80 this year) can still totally kick my trash at bowling...
you can't see the score but he beat me both times by about 40 pins. You rock Dad!

And here I am back in provo... beard and all... back to school... and working... This year however will prove to be interesting... this I am sure of.
Cheers folks!

There is a time to laugh

2007-12-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

Go Visit my brother's blog... if you are into music, and if you're not, it's still way funny.

www.jasonity.blogspot.com

The Things That You Wish

2007-11-30T00:19:00.000-08:00

Oh if there were only somewhere where you could go,
Where you could escape and feel that yourself you don't even know,
Find that someone so to yourself you might show,
where all characteristics in harmony flow
Find where the highs are reached from low.

Oh if I could change this mirror to find
leave this mere shell behind
the glorious color shown sublime
leave the fractured dreams and mind
the sculpture reveals the painful grind

Oh, if words would simply themselves arrange
Discuss on there own the complexity and the strange
a thousand conversations in a single quatrain
Discuss the single frustration in length and range
a myriad of thoughts simplified and tamed.

man its late, why can't I ever get to sleep?!

How Bout a Delicious Bass?

2007-11-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

My brother Ian sent me this gorgeous bass in the mail. he is the man! THANKS IAN!

WTF

2007-11-20T21:55:00.001-08:00

Some days I really wonder why the hell I am in college. It seems so far beyond my ability to attain the levels of knowledge they require me to reach. Whatever, today is not a great day.

Lost in Denver

2007-10-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I went to Denver over the weekend to play a show with the band. Basically, we learned that Denver is far away, its kind of a dirty industrial hole, and Bodog Music is the stupidest company known to man. Sure we lost, we really didn't care, we just thought it was funny the attitude all the other bands carried... It was almost like children sizing each other up on a playground...

so in dedication to our fun times... Christian has obliged us with a couple animated gif images...

The above shots were taken somewhere before Grand Junction i think... We were outside pee'ing cause there were no bathrooms for miles and there was a cool sunset... John, Christian, Taylor and Will went and danced and spelled F A R T (in case you can't spot it)... lovely, simply marvelous fellows...

Below is just a bunch of pictures I took with my cell phone on an open shutter mode for the color streaks and an night open shutter mode for everyone's faces... it was neato.

I would like to thank Danelle for the use of her awesome camera! Thanks Danelle!

that is all. Oh but not really... In the next couple of weeks the band will be going into the studio to cut an 8 song cd of sorts... it will be nice to have some music to sell. So tune in folks, The Plan is going to have 1. a new band name soon cause The Plan has been taken.... 2. a new CD for you all to enjoy.

-S

Addendum

2007-10-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

For the curious, and to prove that I am not playing with imaginary friends... here is a picture of Danelle (pronounced Dan-ell not Dañelle) Primavera. She is an amazing person!

choices choices and other type ramblings

2007-10-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

So,

Update, my car is back together, here are the things that i fixed:
timing belt & idle tensioner
replaced 2 axles
new clutch
front motor mount

things I had to deal with:
a billion over-torqued bolts
4 hours to dremel off a pressure plate bolt
3 broken tools 2 broken sockets
a 1x0.25 chunk of skin I decided I didn't need on my right index finger anymore
a couple of profane words i yelled
dropping a transmission on my torso

I can honestly say I have had more fun working on cars before. I hope this one lasts the winter.

I have learned as of late by running some ball park figures that i would be considerably richer if I hadn't decided to build cars the way i have in the past few years. The question I am trying to answer is whether or not the seemingly wasted money and time was worth what I gained out of it... time will tell I suppose. For now, I have a few hundred dollars gone from my money reserves I really didn't need to lose and a bit more skin wasted on my big chunk of metal I call my car.

So tra la la la... life goes on right?

Current situation...
I have been trying to figure out exactly what to do in the next year. I was originally slated to go with the BYU study abroad to Amman, Jordan. However, money constraints might have to put that on hold for another year while I get the moneys to do it. The option 2 I have is to go to Iran with Hooshang and Mehry (my farsi instructors) and spend a month over there getting familiar with Persian culture and perhaps making some connections to study at the U of Tehran... who knows, so many things to consider. If you are interested in knowing, my intentions are currently this...

learn arabic well enough to speak it so I have the ability to travel in the Middle East
focus on Persian studies... do masters and on to a PHD

the why?
I would like to do something productive with my life and I feel that further education is my key to it. That and I would like to teach at a university someday when I get sick of traveling around.

So many things to do... However, I have to live in the now and study up for my wicked arabic midterm coming up next Monday. Also, my band here in Provo is going to Denver this weekend for the Bodog's Battle of the Bands... its a stupid competition that is like the American Idol garbage... I'm not gunna be on TV cause these are just auditions. We don't expect anything so you shouldn't either. We are just going to go play and laugh at those who are taking it seriously... honestly... we are 1 out of 4500 bands that are auditioning for this thing. HAHAHA

cheers

tranny out, tranny in, tranny back out.

2007-10-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

today I feel as though I wasted my life... All day I spent putting my clutch in, putting my car back together again etc... only to find that I screwed up something in the process and my clutch sounds like finger nails running 800 rpm on a chalkboard.... so yeah, sometimes I guess I am not so good with car mechanics as i think... not only that, this is all proof of how procrastination kicks your butt... I have a LOT of homework to do... a LOT of work (job) to do... 3 tests and a paper due this week... the band plays a show in Midvale on Wednesday, on top of ALL that I have my personal goals I have set for the week. If I am still alive come Sunday you will all know that there truly is a God.

Saturday I will take my tranny out again and try to determine what on earth I did wrong.

Weddings and New Beginnings

2007-09-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

It has been awhile since I have written anything and it has mainly been because i got really freakin busy in these past couple weeks what with my best friend's wedding and me starting classes again. If you have spoken to me in the past few weeks and I have been short with you, I sincerely apologize. I am under a little stress lately. Heres the update though.

Chris's wedding went really really well. It was the best wedding I have ever attended to say the least. I got to say some heart felt words to a lot of people that mean so much to me. Not only that, it was nice to be around a lot of folks that I have known over the years as family. The reason for that is that I knew both the bride and groom's sides because Chris marriend my other best friend Jared's sister Lauren. What a crazy world. I couldn't be happier for them.

pictures:

Lairmont Manor (wedding location):
Jared and I (Jared is the bride's brother and one of my best friends):
the moment of truth (Chris and Lauren tie the knot):
Chris and his joyful father Bill:
The happy couple:
So yeah,

Anyway, I started classes again. It is turning out to be quite a load of things to do. However, things are starting off rather rocky as a result. This is mainly because of my perpetuating lack of being able to focus properly. See, I've been having these dizzy spells for about a half a year now and I can't seem to get rid of them. Problem is they make me really drowsy all the time and all I want to do is sleep them off. They are slightly improving but not really at the rate that I would hope. Oh well, so I'm taking Arabic 201, Farsi 201, History of the Middle East, Geography of the Middle East, and quite possibly might add Arabic 221R which is a conversational Arabic class... I will check that out tonight. I really want to buckle down and get into these languages because they are so much fun and will lead me to some interesting experiences in the not so distant future. Unfortunately, study abroad programs might throw off my projected date for graduation.

Cheers,
-Sean

PS
here is a picture of me trying to focus at work:

Music Expresses...

2007-08-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

The electric guitar is such a fascinating instrument. I am overjoyed to actually have the ability to make music with it. I was plucking away at the strings last night and it hit me that it was always a little bit of a dream in my mind when I was in elementary school that I would be able to play the guitar. Maybe it came from watching Bon Jovi on TV, I dunno, but I love playing. I especially love live shows. There really is nothing like them. For a lot of musicians, writing is the only way of expressing certain emotions that you just can't get out any other way. I know this is such the case with myself. Unless I'm with the right people, I don't like to talk about emotional stuff with folks. I tend to stay pretty closed. Music comes in as the outlet. If someone really wants to understand my emotional side, you have to listen to the music I create. It makes for a puzzle for people I suppose, but its more effective than just saying a word that symbolizes an emotion in my opinion. You have to work to decipher the content. When it clicks, it makes a bridged connection between folks and causes understanding. What a magnificent thing music is.

2007-08-14T11:42:00.001-07:00

So I woke up this morning and I can't hear out of my left ear. It was working fine when I went to bed last night!

what fun curve balls life throws at us from time to time.

Washington is better than you!

2007-07-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

My bike ride today...

Eat your heart out!

Dorks!

crashes

2007-07-27T01:57:00.000-07:00

So, I'm up and awake right now at 2am... my shoulder is in a spot of bother as I dislocated it today while mt. biking. I've wrecked twice so far this week. I'm a little in fear cause i usually get things in threes. Needless to say, I'm off the mt. bike for a bit. I can still move my left arm in full range motion, but I did hurt something in the shoulder socket. Fun Fun... oh and I put my shin into my crank arm on my bike and now have a swollen shin. Man, I go on vacation and it looks like i go to beat the shiz out of myself. If I "vacation" any more I might end up dead!

thoughts today

2007-07-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

I had a few thoughts today... I wrote them down as I walked home from church to day and sat on a bench at a pond that is close to my parent's house. I was really impressed at how delicate rain kisses the glossy water surface and my brain started to tell itself that now is one of those times that I come up with something philosophical to say.

Here are my random thoughts:

I was thinking about how insignificant I really am. Seriously, if I were to die in my sleep, there would be a handful of people who would mourn for a couple days or so, then life would probably return to normal with intermittent occurrences of "hmmm I remember Sean when he..." kinds of things. That might be a bleak way of looking at it but its basically my particular perspective. I then thought to myself "Well, so what if I learn all this crap at college, big deal, I am no different than a rain drop that falls into this pond. It causes a little ripple and vanishes." I then wrote in my little journal "Life is as if we all live in a dictionary, it doesn't matter where you are in it, everyone is looking for a definition of it."

I stood up and proceeded to walk back home having to traverse a path near the pond when i stopped to pick up a small pebble of no particular outstanding characteristic. It was a piece of chewed up granite that the Greenways crews toss to make "pretty" pathways for wetlands here in Washington. I looked at it and thought of all the time and things that occurred to make this pebble what it is, not only that, but it just so happened that it has spent these thousands of years and processes to meet me there at that pond to have me stare at it and contemplate its origins. I then threw it into the water and lost sight of it as it disappeared into the mud clouded waters. I then thought this:

"We are as these small stones thrown into the pond. Though being small, we crash down and make an impact and change our environment no matter where we are. When someone starts something new, no matter what it may be, they never see the end result, but leave it for others to build upon. We are thrown into the pond and we make a lasting impression as we stamp ourselves on the bottom."

So in reality, we are truly unique, every person. Sounds a bit daft, but it's interesting to note the orchestrated interactions of life. There are so many things going on that we just don't see.
Keeps me amazed and thats where my hope lives.

How to Dig Yourself into a Hole and Out Again.... by: Syclist

2007-07-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the long time between blogs. I have been a little busy. Though I think maybe all of 3-5 people ever read this anyway.

I drove home in my trusty truck (left Salt Lake at 6:00 pm and got to Bellingham at 7:15 am). It was an ok drive. My seats in my truck were taxing though because I think the guy who owned them before me broke the lumbar support so your back goes tense after a few hours. I stuffed my car's repair manual behind my back though and it worked like a charm. I didn't see much but a bunch of semi trucks and darkness cause I drove into the night. Oh yeah, I saw some of southern Idaho, but its no different from driving in the dark cause there is nothing there... Except for in Boise. Here are some pictures I took whilst being dazed and confused by the wheel. Thanks Taylor for the System of a Down and Metallica stuff; it sure helped me get through eastern Washington and over the passes. Once I got to I-405 the drivers kept me awake because Washington drivers are practically inept and have no clue as to whats going on... I was on a bit of a caffeine rush so maybe I was the quirky one, but then again most all the other drivers were in middle of drinking their moca latte triple shot cappuccinos so i can't say much for caffeine intakes because all I had was a half of a Rockstar... I found out that if you drink a strawberry flavored Fortify nutrition drink, then drink mango/tangerine rockstar your mouth tastes like a urinal cake. Hence the reason for only drinking half the Rockstar. Anydangway, here are some pictures:

See, NOTHING in Idaho.

Had to pee, stopped in Lime Oregon. Look at my AWESOME truck!The Cement factory, if anyone has some this drive they know it.
WASHINGTON! LOOK REAL TREES!!!
I found out that it is exactly 1000 miles from the Chevron on 500W in Provo to my parent's driveway... This is my trip ODO right before it ticked over.

In other news, I did get my road bike back together again (hooray!) and I can ride now. I also brought my mt. bike with me so i can get some REAL mountain biking in at Galbraith (20 mins from any location in Bellingham) instead of havingto drive for 30mins-1 hour to get to anywhere decent in Provo. I do enjoy the road biking in Provo more however.

My band in B'ham played a show last Saturday at the Rogue Hero (a hole in the wall club in Bellingham). It was ridiculously sweaty. I sweated (what is the past tense of sweat? Swatted?) all over my guitar and my whole person was soaked when i got done, but we rocked the joint! I don't have pics for that yet cause other folks took them and haven't sent them my way.

SO... I got home to see the new car. I had a bit of a meltdown cause it wasn't quite what i had expected. After some rest and stuff I came to my senses. I did end up selling my truck, but not until Friday of that week. So with $1600 in my pocket I went and sourced the needed parts for the new VW Scirocco of my which I will name Rocky... fitting its Rocky the Rocco!

So I've been working on that while getting some work done and some biking in. Overall, I am just enjoying being home. Gives me a chance to unwind and just be away from my school life for a bit. I love it up here though and sometimes wish I didn't have to go back.

Pics of my progress on the car. Doesn't look like much, but I will have all that back together again tomorrow. Today I had to install ALL of the coolant plumbing for the car which takes a good while if you want hoses and things routed properly. With that out of the way, the rest of everything else is purely cosmetic. Don't worry about the interior... it took me all of 1 hour to disassemble it when i removed it to get at the wiring.

Me after getting all the hoses and radiator back into the car.
All the plumbing is in! the Scirocco radiator demands a funky looking top hose... apparently its like $200 from the dealer for just that one hose.

My disassembled interior. Those bucket seats are REALLY comfy though.

The rest of my parts for the car are in the back... I'm looking to have it done tomorrow... well, almost all done.

So, there ya have it folks.

-Sean

NEWS FLASH REI PLEASE DON'T DISSAPOINT ME!

2007-07-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

So, I'm taking off on Monday and my new frame was supposed to come in today (Friday)... Well, it didn't which means i take off to the beautiful Pac NW without my road bike! Oh the disappointment I feel is incredible.

Independence Day

2007-07-04T23:03:00.001-07:00

So another July 4th is gone and I'm still thankful to be so fortunate to live in a country such as this and be blessed with what I have, cause seriously, there are people less fortunate, for whatever reason, are placed in other circumstances...

Heres the whats up on my life.

Today i went on a hike with a few folks from the ward. We went to Blanche Lake. It was gorgeous, not only that though, i really needed it. I have found that me being outside allows my mind time to heal mental wounds. Not like I'm mentally disturbed or anything, but as I go along in life i realized that my mind works certain ways, it takes hits, and needs a way to heal. I believe that comes from me just getting out into nature and enjoying God's architecture.

pictures:

I've been going nuts for the past few weeks as REI dissapoints me on not resolving my cracked frame (road bike) issue. I have been off the road bike for about three weeks and it couldn't have come at a more inopportune moment as i was getting some rather impressive strength on the bike that I haven't had since I stop seriously training from before my mission. Anyway, the new frame is due to arrive on Friday. Lets hope the total inept jar heads at the Salt Lake REI can get it right this time and stop pointing the finger at me for their mistakes. Thats a completely different can of worms for me. The company hasn't treated me all to well, and the lead shop technician has tried to pull a few good ones on me concerning his shop procedures. He seems to forget that I hold the same certifications that he does and understands REI shop policy just as well as he does. If you shop at REI, avoid the SLC store. It was bad enough that the General Manager would yell at me in front of customers, me being a now customer AND former employee of the company (not to mention I was a good employee and still carry good relations with my former manager at the Bellingham store). So yeah, long story short, they finally ordered the right frame (hopefully), and once i get that, the story won't be over as I plan on going to corporate and illuminating to them the exceptional customer service practices at the REI in Salt Lake.

In other news, Monday morning I will hop in the ol' truck and cart my carcass back to Bellingham where my new car awaits. I'll get some photos of it later. I'll also get to see some old friends and generally go on vacation. I hope this plan of mine to sell my truck and fix the new car to drive it back to provo works out! (en sha allah).

I'll document a road trip with phone pictures.... it will be fun!

So despite my physical and psychological set backs as of late, I hope to pull something interesting out of nowhere for the Month of July.

oh and for folks interested in my dating life... well, there isn't one for me at the time, and I'm ok with that. Sometimes its a good day to die, and sometimes its a good day to get yourself in order.

pic of the new car (sorta):

Marco Pantani

2007-06-20T00:32:00.000-07:00

This is the man that inspired me to cycling. Yeah, he probably used performance enhancing drugs, but that still doesn't take away from the look of determination he has. Learn to look for the admirable qualities in folks. I present Marco Pantani... (January 13, 1970 – February 14, 2004)

Believe it or not

2007-06-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

ok,

Run down. this is kind of a dual post.

1.

Jason and I went night mt. biking and had some bro time to hang out... I'll have to get the rest of the pictures from him, but that will happen later.

We saw a moose,

And we also saw a porcupine which looked menacing. I've never seen one in real life, and this one basically looked like a largish bush that was walking around... We didn't get a picture of it though.

We rode until it got dark then we turned on our lights.
here are some pics...

This is the canyon we were riding in.

This what downhill looks like riding at night.

More pics to come. We took more with jason's camera so more to come.

2. For those of you who don't believe i ever really raced...

Let me present to you Mr. Tyler Farrar. Tyler is originally from Wenatchee Washington. I raced against him many moons ago and he took his first pro tour win this week in a stage race in Portugal...

Go here for the race standings

Here is the picture of the master of speed himself. He was ridiculously fast back then and nothing has changed. The last time i talked with him he was in REI in Bellingham and we had a nice chat about old team members and his goals. Expect him to be winning some major races in the next 2 years when he hits to his prime. He is about 23 years old.

If I had just won my first pro race and was being kissed by two gorgeous Portuguese women, I would probably have that look on my face too.

-Sean

Get back up

2007-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just a mental note to those who have little stumbling blocks in the road.... When you fall, get back up, change and move... oh how cliché can i be?

Somedays

2007-06-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Somedays it seems that you can't quite figure out what exactly your brain is doing and why its doing what its doing. Today is one of those days. Maybe it a combination of finals coming up coupled with a bit of over zealousness on the bike, but i dunno. Funny thing is that I can remember when i was able to stay up til like 3 in the morning doing homework and then just wake up at 6 in the morning without too much trouble. Maybe I have drained my reserves all in the adolescent years but man I simply can't do that anymore. Frustration has a whole new definition. It seems I've had the same "to do" list of things to improve about myself for that past 10 years and maybe have made a single grain of progress on those things. It is easy to see those things that you need to work on, but on the flip side, I can't bring myself to focus completely on the things that I can do and have done because I end up traveling the way of hubris and coming full circle to crashing down again. Conclusion? well there has to be some sort of balance between the two. The trick is figuring out how to keep the two sides in check when both wish dominance.

vanity

2007-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a cool picture that Lindsey took when we went mountain biking the other day. Its probably the most cut I've had my legs that i can ever think of.

Some days you get flat tires.

2007-05-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

look what happened.... i got a blow out on my way home from my ride today, but this is a first for me....Basically i was cruising about 35 mph on University Ave (i could keep up with the cars is how i know my speed)... went through the intersection of Bulldog and University and nailed some sort metal strip, i dunno, but i wasn't able to see it till I hit to stupid thing. It totally tore my tire apart and somehow did that to the valve stem. Luckily the rim wasn't damaged and I, with my superior bike handling skills, did not crash.

2007-05-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

this cartoon is funny, and sadly enough, true about provo...

This weekend

2007-05-27T00:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was spent doing some really really fun biking. Characters involved were myself, Yancy (roommate), and Jason (brosky) (left to right in photos).

Friday afternoon, after eagerly getting out of my stupid Spanish 355 class, we made some not so quick repairs and got up to Sundance and tried out the whole chair lift and ride down deal. It was pretty fun except Jason broke a spoke within the first few minutes and had to head back down to get it fixed. Yancy and I took a crazy trail for our second run down which taxed even my superior bike handling skills. Sorry folks, no pictures cause Jason had the camera.

Saturday, slept in cause we were lazy. I got up to find Jason reading quietly on the couch whilst Yancy kept sleeping. I started to make sense of the mid morning and realized that we needed to get going on our rather epic ride. The idea was to ride the Alpine Loop road which winds up past Sundance and eventually dumps you into American Fark(Utah colloquial version of "Fork") canyon. We had no desire to go to American Fark so we tentatively planned to visit Cascade Springs once we hit the road junction. Anyway, we headed out after readying our bikes, plunged through Provo canyon and hit the climb up to Sundance. The climb is a very consistent gradient which put some nice pressure on the legs and demanded your sweat. We took a bit of a break at the ski resort just to down some fluids and refill for the climb. We then ascended the climb with relatively no interruption from traffic. Yancy was climbing very well today and just kept pedaling. I chilled back with Jason because I felt lazy and enjoyed eating twinkies and looking at the scenery around us. Jason is showing some awesome improvement taking on the heavy load of these 3+ hour rides since he never really has done any road rides much like this in the past. Seriously, he puts himself into pain realms that very few people every have an intimate relationship with. Me, well I just ride the way I ride... and that is, talking with these long interior monologues about how frustrating it is not to have complete discipline, or on other days, I just pretend I'm in some big race... yeah yeah yeah, childish, but it makes the miles pass by quicker, and you know what? Escaping the reality that I'll probably never race in a big race (let alone win one ever) is sometimes a nice thing.

Top right- Yancy, man, i was way impressed with his climbing today
Mid-left- Some of the views from the loop
Bottom- Jason, wearing some hot pink spandex and creating a relationship with pain.

So anyway,

We get to the top and after some meaningful deliberation, we decide to go check out Cascade Springs. What we didn't realize was that the road just shot straight downhill at like an average of 14% gradient for about 3 miles. The cool thing was that I hit round bout 60 mph on the down rounding corners like a pro. I looked at the campsites as people saw my blue and yellow flash of color speed down the road. I was rather happy with my abilities in the corners. It actually stems from something my Dad pointed out while he sat and watched a Tour de France with me.

"You see that Sean?"
"See what?"
"The road is curvy but Lance finds a straight line through every turn"

I took that little tidbit of advice and coupled it with not touching the brakes and that formula creates break neck speeds! Fun fun! So, enough of that. We started to climb again and quickly realized that the way back might be a bit of a pain if we went the whole 7 miles to the springs. We turned around and made the 3 mile climb back out. Jason pushed himself into a whole new realm of pain on this climb.

(Here Jason stands on his pedals looking for extra power)

Yancy just kept plugging away as he did the whole day and I just pedaled and yelled at approaching vehicles... Oh and I pushed Jason up hill for a little bit just to see how much I could do it before I collapsed. It was rather amusing.

Long story short, we road up, and back down past Sundance, refueled, and went back through the Canyon and back into Provo. We then fired up the grill and made food... delicious food.

And here are a bunch of pictures:

2007-05-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

HEY FOLKS! I GOT MY COMPUTER SETUP AND IT ROCKS! here is a lovely picture for views... now I can blog whenever i dang well please.

more to come later...

Don't have a title

2007-05-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well,

After about 6 mos. of dating the relationship ended. Its odd, you know those times when you get hit so hard with something that instead of producing a reaction of expressed pain and anguish, you produce silence. I'm dumbfounded, no words to express what i feel right now. Its kinda like the moment right after something horrific happened, you know, the few minutes when everyone is just observing the wreckage in awe or shock. I'm shocked, and I can't do anything about it but just sit here and stare. I think the worst part is that they are not there anymore and I'm left to my own thoughts to keep me company... to tell you the truth, I don't like my thoughts' company so much at the moment.

It all begins with organized letters

2007-04-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

So,

This is my blog. Hopefully I will buy a camera sometime soon, because this day and age we are into picture books and stuff. Anyway, I'm gunna write this blog cause the only other place where i blog is on my myspace page and not everyone can access those soooooo heres this.

Whats going on with Sean you ask?

Winter semester at BYU is almost over. I have two finals left right now, but after today there will only be 1 remaining. I'll then have 3 days of freedom and working before classes kick off on May 1st for Spring term. Nice thing is that it will be a LOT easier than this past semester. Hopefully I can get myself back into shape on the bike again. Tsk Tsk to myself for gaining about 6 lbs over this past semester.

Anydangway, recently i was planning on purchasing a different car... heres a picture of it.

its a 1988 VW scirocco! but its special cause this is a 16v edition... they are hard to find and especially at the price this guy was selling it for.

Problem is that his 16 year old daughter found out he was selling it and threw a fit...
So no car for me i guess.

I still got my trusty truck though. That broke down on me. HAHAHA. but I fixed it with a total of 30 dollars in parts + about 150 dollar towing fee afterwards.

moral of the story, cars suck. But why are they so much fun?!

Anyway, heres to a relaxing spring summer!