Motorcycle Rides

Ended up not having to work like I usually do on Saturdays. My buddy Jeremy called me up and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. He has this really cool brand new Monster Ducati so he loves riding it. 

I brought over my spare Sena bluetooth headset that I keep for my spare helmet and installed it on Jeremy's Ducati helmet. It was my first time riding with another biker where we were able to talk the whole time. Usually I just use it to communicate with a passenger. It was so cool to be able to talk to Jeremy while were rode up to Park City.

The Tour of Utah was going on and saw a lot of bikers. We cruised up and down Main St. then stopped at Squatters to get some lunch. I got a tasty bacon burger.

Later we went over to the Outlet stores to see if anything was good there. They seemed exactly like the ones in Traverse Mountain, so we didn't stay long.

On our way back we went through Midway and stopped at the Crater at Midway. Jeremy had never been there before, so he was excited to see it. I was surprised nobody said anything to us. We just walked in and took some pics and left. It was somewhat crowded in there. Seemed about 20 people were floating around in it.

Overall it was a nice weekend relaxing and finished Saturday night at the Real Monarch's game. We had enough hands in stats, so I didn't have to do much during the game, but had to gather quotes and transcribe after the game like I normally do for RSL. I didn't mind it. Soccer is great and it was a nice way to end a Saturday.
 

Should I come back to Blogging? - Cycling - The New Hobby

Recently I have been seeking out blogs of people from around the world who have been on the Camino de Santiago del Norte. I served my mission for 2 years along the northern coast of Spain and lived in many cities that the Camino went through, including nearly 4 months in Santiago de Compostela, which is the final destination to most of the routes.

I met a LDS Spaniard from Barcelona when I was serving in Santiago de Compostela back in the summer of 2001. He had just completed riding his mountain bike from the boarder of France all the way to Santiago in 10 days. I was blown away by how much strength this guy had and it has since lit a fire in me that has been with me ever since. I knew that someday I wanted to return to do the Camino, but I didn't know how or when, because I wasn't into cycling, and I knew there would be no way that I would be able to get a full month off work to be able to walk it.
I've been back to Spain a handful of times since coming home from Spain from my 2 year mission, but have only returned to the Northern Coast 2 times.

This year I decided to by a bicycle and get into a new sport to keep me in shape. I didn't know what I wanted to do between mountain bike and road biking, so I bought a Schwinn Hybrid bike from Walmart, so I can have a little of both. Since then, my roommate Caz has been a big inspiration to me, since he works at a bicycle shop and has several types of very nice and costly bikes. He showed me Strava and how addicting it is.

I've been doing anywhere from 15 to 30 plus mile biking trips each time I get on my bike. I recently cycled 31 miles one Saturday evening and another 50 miles the following Sunday morning in order to complete the 131km Strava Gran Fondo challenge in July. I don't have a light bike with toe clips,  I don't have a cool skin tight jersey, though I have some nice gel padded cycling shorts, but I find that I am able to keep pushing myself. The more I do it, the further I want to go, even though I must say, the 50 miles after doing 30 was killer on my legs turning them into jello. I had over 2,500 ft elevation gain between the two days. I later recovered from sore legs 2 days later and was ready for more.

The following weekend I did a 14 mile round trip hike to the top of Mt. Timponogos with a Spanish friend who had never been. We went up Saturday evening and camped in the meadows and then finished on Sunday. It was pretty tough carrying such a heavy pack with tent and sleeping gear, but I did it and feel my legs are much stronger now because of it. We took our time, but I think we did it round trip in around 8-9 hours. Keep in mind you are also going up at least a mile in elevation.

All the exercise is getting me excited to do the Camino which I have been planning for a couple of months now. I already booked my bike rental in Spain and hotel in Bilbao where I will be starting. It's becoming more and more real every day.
I have put a lot of thought an planning into the trip and been keeping track of web pages I come across, such as blogs and other important forum information with details about the Camino from others who have done it. A month from today I will be flying to Spain to start the Camino in hopes of crossing off another item from my bucket list.

Reading others' blogs has been motivational to want to do the same, but I don't know if I want to do do live blogging, because I am the type who is always on the go with little time to stop and want to write. I will for sure keep a journal, but I'm not exactly sure yet when I will transcribe.

Overall, I am thinking about writing on this blog again more often to be able share my experiences on the Camino, because I have found it so helpful to read from other bloggers doing the same.

Real Salt Lake vs BYU Exhibition game Recap

I heard about this match going down in Provo on Saturday night the 19th of May, so I emailed my RSL boss Trey to see if they needed any extra help during the game. He said he wanted me to be the PR guy down at the game and be in charge and take game notes and write a recap on the game, along with obtaining some quotes as well for the RSL website. I was super nervous, because I've never drafted a press release after a RSL match before. They usually leave that to the interns to do. The most I ever do as far as writing goes is get quotes from the teams and compile them on a laptop to be posted for the website later.


I came eager and ready to get my mission accomplished. I sat with Brian Kamler, who is a sports color analyst for ESPN700, so I knew I could listen to him and his partner call the game and I could listen to it to make sure my notes were also correct. The game went well and I came up with nearly 4 pages of notes. I talked with MLS.com writer Randy Davis, and he told me that he was asked to write a recap by one of the RSL interns. I told him I was doing the same, so we both agreed to write a different kind of angle on the game, so it wasn't the same.  


I came home that evening after the 1-1 tie game and doing some interviews and helping PR with the journalists. I thought I had a deadline, so I worked fervently. After about 2 and a half hours I finally finished my RECAP that I wrote in a rush. I emailed it into my boss.


It has been 2 days since then, and he has not emailed me back giving me any kind of feed back. I emailed him again Sunday morning with a slightly altered version of the release just in case...Still no reply over a day later. I went onto RSL's website only to find that Randy's version of his RECAP had been published, and not mine. He has some quote from players and the head coach, who we didn't even interview after the game. He did a great job as always, but I'm a little upset that mine didn't go up as well. It's more of a play-by-play recap, and I thought I did well writing it. So i'm a little upset that it didn't get published after spending my entire Saturday evening and night working on it. If my release wasn't needed,  it would have been nice to know, and I wouldn't have written it. Either way, I didn't want it to go to waste, so Ithought I would post my RECAP Release, so that it can be another sample of my writing to my blog.

REAL SALT LAKE Finish With a 1-1 Draw at BYU Exhibition Game

Provo, UT. (Saturday, May 19, 2012) – Real Salt Lake (8-3-2, 26 points, West #1) Finished with a draw in the first exhibition game against BYU since October 2009. RSL MF Will Johnson found the back of the net for the team’s only goal in the 46^th minute where the opportunity was created by Fabian Espindola, when Espindola chipped the ball in to the center of the box, where Johnson right footed the ball toward the right side of the net.

Played on the South Field on BYU’s campus, RSL came out attacking early with Espindola getting a shot on goal in the 2^nd minute. RSL continued attacking BYU with multiple shots. A head-in from Bonfigli in the 16^th minute came off the cross bar. From there RSL had 3 corner kicks in the late teen minutes that set RSL up for a couple more shots that seemed to be blocked by BYU’s defense. BYU rallied back and took a shot on goal giving Kyle Reynish his first save of the game in the 21^st minute. BYU did a fantastic job clogging up the mid field and made some really solid runs on RSL. BYU’s defense made it difficult for RSL to get a clear shot on frame until the very end of the first half after BYU took their first corner in the 45^th minute which resulted in the ball headed out and brought down the field where Espindola chipped the ball into the center of the box to find Johnson, who then put the ball away to the back of the right side of the net in the 46^th minute.

Following the 1-0 first half, RSL brought early energy to the second stanza, most of it through Cody Arnoux. The New York striker harassed the Cougar backline, only to have an open shot blocked by a slide tackle from BYU’s Sterling Hancock, which prevented Arnoux from scoring. RSL continued to do a good job wearing down BYU, but BYU managed to keep their players fresh with 6 substitutions in the first half, and 8 in the second half, while RSL’s only substitutions came at the beginning of the second half with 4 substitutions.

RSL came close a few more times in the second half with two shots by Saborio, and another by Grabavoy that bounced off the wood work. The game started to change starting in the 80^th minute when Cruz was issued a yellow card for a hard tackle on BYU’s David Gates.

RSL’s last chance at scoring came in the 87^th minute when Saborio was fouled at the top of the 18 yard box that set up a free kick taken by Grabavoy that ricochet off  the far post. RSL missed passes that created opportunities for BYU to come back into the game and score in the 89^th minute by David Gates, assisted by Dallin Cutler. BYU’s Garrett Losee had a steal in the final 92^nd minute which left him with a wide open shot just a few yards in front of GK Kyle Reynish that went far left of goal bringing the crowd of 3,845 to their feet to end the game.

Real Salt Lake Match Notes – BYU 1 : 1 RSL

•      RSL DF Chris Wingert did not suit due to a left hamstring injury which occurred in the Seattle match. Also Chris Schuler was missing due to a foot injury. RSL was already out talismanic MF Javier Morales due to a right quadriceps strain.

•      Last exhibition game against BYU was on October 2, 2009, which resulted in a 3-1 victory for the Claret-and-Cobalt over the Cougars’ turf. This occurred nearly a month and a half before RSL captured the MLS Cup 2009 title

•      BYU Men’s soccer team recently returned from Costa Rica where they won all 3 of the games played there. BYU host their home opener against the Los Angeles Misioneros May 24^th on the South Field at 8 p.m.

•      Real Salt Lake returns to action at its Rio Tinto Stadium home against FC Dallas on Saturday, May 26. Tickets for that night’s game can be purchased at www.RealSaltLake.com or by calling (801) 727.2701.

•      RSL had players who went to their respective national team camps, as MF Kyle Beckerman, GK Nick Rimando were called to national team camp U.S. and were not in attendance. MF Will Johnson (Canada) and FW Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) could potentially participate in the early June FIFA dates … 18-year old RSL MF Luis Gil could potentially be included in the U.S. U-20 camp this summer as well.

Brigham Young University 1: REAL SALT LAKE 1

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012

South Field

Goals by Period                    1          2          F

Brigham Young                       0          1          1

Real Salt Lake                        1          0          1

Scoring Summary:               RSL – Johnson (Espindola) 46’

                                               BYU _ Gates (Cutler) 89’

Misconduct Summary:         BYU –  (Hard Foul) 47’

                                                RSL –  Alvarez (Hard Foul) 64’

                                                            Cruz (Hard Foul) 80’

RSL Shots- 21, Shots on Goal 3

BYU Shots- 3, Shots on Goal 4

           

Lineups:

Real Salt Lake (4-4-2) – Kyle Reynish; , Jamison Olave, Terukazu Tanaka, Chris Estridge (Andreas Chronis 46’); Leone Cruz, Yordany Alverez, Will Johnson (Ned Grabavoy 46’), Luis Gil, Jonny Steele, Emiliano Bonfigli (Alvaro Saborio 46’), Fabian Espindola (Cody Arnoux 46’) Substitutes Only Made at the beginning of second half

Brigham Young Cougars (4-3-3) – Hale Bryan 00 GK, Sterling Hancock 5,Douglas Clark 6, Jonathan Junca 8, Will Burton 23, James Bindrup 22, Dallin Cutler 4, Jace Green 19, Scott Heaton 15, Garrett Losee 13, David Gates 12

Substitutes Used: 6 substitutes in the first half, 8 substitutions in the second half with the last sub coming in the 91^st minute.

Referee: Alex Krelow 
Referee's Assistants: Brad Jensen, Hamed Sadeghi 4th Official: Justice Jex


Attendance: 3,845

Time of Game: 5:05
Weather: Clear and 70 degrees

  

www.RealSaltLake.com / www.byusoccer.com/ www.ESPN700Sports.com

Taekwondo Students Prepare for National Competition

I have been working on a press release for the martial arts school that my little brother Eric attends. They are trying to create a little bit of awareness about the program and get others interested in possibly sponsoring the school, or individual martial art students. Some of them, along with my brother, need to raise $2500 by the end of June to go to a national competition in California. Let's see who decides to run this press release I wrote

Local Taekwondo Students Compete In Preparation For National Competition

Lindon, Utah- April 25, 2011- Beyond Sports Taekwondo will be hosting a Wasatch Exhibition competition Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 9 a.m. to give forefront experience in tournament combating to students who will fight against top competitors from around the country at a national Taekwondo competition this June in San Jose, Calif.

Taekwondo is a martial arts self-defense sport fairly new to Utah, but has been steadily growing in the Utah County area. Not only do students learn self-defense, but also learn how to master forms that enable students to have controlled techniques that aid in the development of leaderships skills.

There are those Students who want to move on to nationals in hopes of attaining experience on a national level, but due to the high expense of traveling to nationals, only a fraction of students will be able to participate. Finding sponsorship has always been a challenge to obtain, yet is vital in order to help students advance in this rigorous sport.

Master Instructor Taralyn Sorenson at Beyond Sports Taekwondo said, “The main bulk of what I do is all about creating great kids out of leadership programs to give them self-control and discipline skills.”

Not only do students receive martial art instruction, but they also have the opportunity to become instructors and assist in teaching students in lower belt classes.

“I hope to one day qualify to compete in the U.S. Olympics. By helping to instruct lower belt students, I feel like it helps me to understand the techniques better to help me to reach that goal someday,” said 16-year-old Eric Nixon who holds a 2^nd degree Black Belt.

Taekwondo is the name of the martial art turned modern international sport which has been independently developed over about 20 centuries in Korea. The main feature of Taekwondo is that it is a free-fighting combat sport using bare hands and feet to repel an opponent. Taekwondo no more the sport of an eastern small country, Korea, has become one of the world's most prominent sports participated in by some 40 million people in more than 142 countries. The International Olympic Committee admitted the Taekwondo as an official event of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Australia. As a result, Taekwondo is poised to take another leap in its advance towards new dimensions. All events are open to the public.

For more information:

Beyond Sports Taekwondo: 801-796-0412, www.beyondsportsutah.com

###

Recapturing Frank Abagnale's Speech Given to UVU

Frank Abagnale, a New Yorker made famous by Film Director/Producer Stephen Spielberg's movie "Catch Me If You Can," was a guest speaker at UVU today telling his version of his teenage adventures when he took advantage of the banking system and wrote fraudulent checks totaling 2.5 million dollars in 26 countries.

The story began at the age of 16 when he met his parents at the family courthouse. The judge told Frank that his parents were getting divorced. Being confused over the option of choosing a parent to live with, he left upset and wouldn't see his mom for another 7 years.

Unable to obtain a decent working wage at 16, he lied about his age telling people that he was 10 years older than he really was. At age 16 he was 6 ft. tall, and had partial gray hair. Even then he saw that he was unable to obtain good work with good wages.

After forging a few checks, he decided it was time to get out of New York, so he wouldn't get caught. He started his criminal career posing as a Pan-American Airways pilot where he posed as a pilot flying around the world riding in the jump-seat in the cockpit of other airlines so he wouldn't get caught. He was so brilliant that he came up with ways to get a uniform and an identification card for free. He did so by posing as someone he wasn't and giving clever lies to people in order to get what he wanted. Pan-Am estimates that from the age of 16 to 18 he boarded 256 airplanes and had flown a million miles to 26 different countries without stepping on-board of a single Pan-Am airplane; all that flying and hotel stay on the airline's budget.

Continuing to fraud checks along the way to gain money, the FBI eventually caught up to him. It was time to move on. He went to Georgia and posed as a doctor. He knew exactly what to do in order to aggravate the other doctors so they would avoid him. He was only asked to be on duty for 2 weeks during his time at the hospital.

He went on to be a lawyer. A law degree wasn't required to be a lawyer in Louisiana, so he spent 2 months studying and passed the bar. He eventually resigned.

He continued to fraud checks and even figured out how to magnetically encode deposit slips, so that people who used those slips would be depositing into his account.

Frank was only arrested once, in Southern France on a Sweedish warrant. He was convicted of forgery and sentenced to prison.

Spielberg recreated every little detail according to the prison log-book Spielberg also went to Sweden penetentary to learn about Frank's past.

A U.S. Federal judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison in Virginia, but he only served 4 years in prison. He was then offered the chance to work with the FBI to help the fraud dept. out. He accepted that job and continues working with the FBI 35 year later. He resides in Charleston SC.

He had little to do with the movie. He didn't participate in the making of the film. Spielberg did his own research. According to Spielberg, he chose to immortalize Abagnale on film, not for his past crimes, but for what he has done in the 30 some odd years since for his country.

Abagnale and his family were very pleased with the outcome of the film.

Frank says that if he were as brilliant as people say that he is, he wouldn't have found it necessary to break the law. Although people find it very fascinating what he did, he looks at what he did as immoral, unethical and a burden to him.

He ended his speech talking about his dad and the importance of fathers. All 16 year olds are just children, and like all children, they need their mother and their father. ALL children are entitled a mother and father.

He cried himself to sleep every night until he was 19 and missed out on the luxuries that ordinary teenagers enjoy.

Frank said, "I owe this country 800 times more than he could ever repay it, for giving me a second chance these past 36 years." He has turned down 3 pardons from 3 sitting President's of the United States, because he doesn't feel like that would pardon his actions.

In ending his speech, he mentioned that his wife changed his life. He gives all credit for everything he has, was or ever given to his wife.

He reminds men to remember what it means to "actually be a man." "Being a man has nothing to do with money, achievements, skills, accomplishments, possessions. A real man loves his wife, is faithful to his wife, who is a real man next to god and his country and places his wife first. "Nothing has brought me more joy than striving to be a good husband and father."

Zuckerberg Speaks at BYU

When I heard Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg was coming to town, I jumped all over the opportunity to go listen to what the youngest billionaire in the world had to say about success and technology.

Last week U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch invited Mark Z. to come to Provo and have an informal forum with him in front of a crowd of nearly 11,000. This was the first time Mark has ever visited a college campus to talk. Mark even mentioned how nervous he was to speak in front of so many people. He had never spoken to such a crowd. He quickly got over his shyness and did a good job talking about his company, and the major things he looks for in future employees and entrepreneurs. Senator Hatch is a form BYU alum, and did quite a candid job asking Mark some questions that had been submitted by BYU students.

Some things that stood out to me were a few simple things Mark said. He mentioned that the key to any company is the people who are employed. Make sure that everyone who you hire is great at what they do.

Mark took a psychology class while at Harvard and mentioned how it is the most important course along with sociology. It's important for

people to know what's going on with their friends and family. He just helped to provide the tools necessary to allow this.

My favorite part was the part where he mentioned what he looks for in hiring people. Passion. He said, “We look for people who are passionate about something. In a way, it almost doesn’t matter what you’re passionate about. What we really look for when we’re interviewing people is what they’ve shown an initiative to do on their own.”

What have you taken initiative to lead lately? He wants to hire people who think that his organization is broken and want to help make it better in other ways that they are currently not using.

After this technology forum I got the chance to talk to one of my best friends from Spain, Javier. He is doing an internship with a local Spanish tv station. He wanted to interview a couple people about what they had just heard, so he interviewed me in Spanish, along with a good friend of mine, Cristina. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went.

The Return of OMD

Those who know me know that I am a big fan of music, especially 80s music. I have spent the last few years rediscovering songs from my childhood. I think I've done a pretty good job recovering songs that I can remember hearing when I was a kid. The best part is that all the songs I remember are still big hits. I think I have really good taste in music.

Some of the earliest songs I can remember hearing are songs from Tears for Fears, Animotion, and OMD. How cool is it to be able to attend one of these familiar groups in concert?

OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), A British pop group organized in 1978, came to Salt Lake City on March 23, 2011 for the first time in 23 years, and guess who was there? Me.

I had nearly forgotten how much I love synthesizer-pop music. It's great. I didn't really know what to expect from these guys, but I was very surprised with how hip they still are. The lead vocalist, Andy McClusky, is 51 and had the most fantastic almost spazzy type dance moves.

The concert held at the Depot was sold out. There was a good range of attendees, but I'd guess that the average age was upper 30s.

They put on a terrific show, and I would love to see them again in concert. My biggest disappointment was that they didn't play "Secrets". After returning to the stage to do an encore, my friends and I thought for sure they would be playing Secrets. Instead OMD played a song off their new album and Electricity, their first hit song they wrote at the age of 16.

The band apologized for taking so long to return to Salt Lake, and promised that they would return soon.

A Different Perspective

Recently BYU Forward, Brandon Davies, was suspended from the most successful basketball season to take place at BYU due to an honor code violation. As you can imagine what would happen to a player who plays for a team that is nationally ranked #3, he instantly not only became the talk of the town, but the talk of the country.

Davies' situation has become a number one topic all over ESPN and several news agencies and blogs. He has been one of the top Tweeted topics on Twitter over the past few days, consisting of over 185 million tweeters.

I respect the fact that BYU has a standard and sticks to it, but I would like to point out that Davies has gone through much, much more than what an average student would have had to go through if the exact same rule had been broken. Has his punishment been detrimental? I think so.

The church is centered around the fact that the natural man is evil and constantly committing imperfections that prevent man from returning to live with God someday. Because of this fact, a savior was needed and a gospel was created to give man the opportunity to be forgiven of his sins through repentance. It's a church of forgiveness.

I believe that some kind of restitution had to take place in order to teach a lesson, but was it necessary to take away hopes and dreams, destroy a chance of a lifetime and basically inadvertently defame that crap out of a student just because he had sex with his girlfriend? The school should have taken into consideration the effect this would have on Brandon Davies. Was public humiliation part of the god's forgiveness process? I don't know, God works in mysterious ways, but it's possible.

If you asked me what a proper shellacking would have been, I would have said a suspension from the regular season, and maybe take away the guy's scholarship for next year. This student has had it far worse than any normal student who would have committed the same violation. So if every honor code violation punishment is resolved on a case-to-case basis, why couldn't this case take a slightly different turn to avoid broadcasting a man's sins to the world? Something so personal that should only be known between you, your bishop and God; according to the LDS faith. I suppose Davies knew what he got himself into, so technically nobody should feel bad for him; however, I wonder how many other BYU athletes are sweating bullets right now?

Hanging Loose

I recently returned from an lds singles retreat to Maui, Hawaii. I had a such a good time meeting and making so many new friends. I got to do a lot of fun activities around the island.

One thing interesting that I learned was where the "Hang Loose" came from. I always knew Hawaii was famous for the hanging loose hand gesture, but didn't know what it meant until now. It is actually called the Shawka, because there was once a surfer who had a shark take a bite of his hand, leaving the thumb and pinky finger. Every time he waved to the local people, "hang loose" is all they saw. They called him the "Shawka" because a shark had got to him.

My favorite experience in Hawaii was watching all of the whale breaches. It is whale season and I have never seen so many whale jumping out of the water. One day I was out kayaking with my group, and paddled over to a couple of whales. We were hoping to get a picture of maybe the tail coming out of the water rather than just the blow hole. We were about out of time when all of a sudden the whale started jumping out of the water next to us. It was a momma whale showing its infant how to jump. It was so dang cool! Our tour guide told us that we were lucky. This kinda thing only happens to him once a season. If we were any closer, the whale would have landed on top of us. It was pretty much epic.

The snorkeling was fun to see the turtles and some colorful fish, but there weren't a lot of fish swimming around, so it was hard to spot them. The coral was sweet though.

We went up the Haleakala one morning to catch the sunrise at 10,000 ft. That was pretty cool to be up above all of the clouds.

The road to Hana was a little intense. It is so pretty, but holy cow was it a doozer. I read somewhere that it has over 600 curve turns. Be prepared to get a little car sick, but that part of the island is tropical, so it's worth it.

Having time to travel has been nice. I wish I was able to go with most of my friends who are all jealous, because they're working. But in return, I get jealous of them during the summer when I am super busy working and they all get to go on vacation. Lucky them!

Mini Fiddler

Last week Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband played another phenomenal concert at BYU. I was able to spend nearly an hour in the green room before the show, talking with Ryan and other members of the band. I am friends with most of the guys, so it's always a good time for me to catch up with them, since everyone is always busy with life.

I asked Ryan if he could play a song at my request. He said they didn't know the song. He continued to reject my next two song choices, because they hadn't practiced the songs together. He went on to try to teach me about the theory of concerts. He explained a concert performance like a roller coaster. It has to start high and fast and have low and slow moments, but ending on a high. I knew this, but just wanted them to play something new and different for a change. I went around asking the other band members if they knew the songs, and they all said they did, so I'm no sure why they couldn't squeeze an extra song in.

I saw Ryan's little kid, Trevor walk by with the littlest fiddle I have ever seen. I thought it was a toy, but everyone reassured me that it was real. Trevor is Ryan's Mini Me. He looks just like Ryan, and I'm told that he looks just like Ryan when he was a kid.

Trevor is the kind of kid who wants to be just like his dad. He watches his dad play and gets up and tries to be just like him. With what little vocabulary 2 year old Trevor has, he asked his dad if he could play with them in the concert. Sure enough they let him! Trevor came up during two different songs and played (unplugged) and would occasionally sing into his mini mic. It was so cute! I'm pretty sure Trevor will continue the traditions of his family name and be the 6th generation of fiddlers to be produced by the Shupe family.

I Found a Schmuck!

I was recently talking to a good friend, who I will keep anonymous, about school. He had graduated in December 2008; the same semester I graduated. Since then, he has been going about his business as a college graduate. I have never had a reason to doubt him, until now.

We got to talking about how hard it is to look at a piece of paper, framed on the wall, and make monthly student loan payments for it. I have my Bachelor degree in Communication framed and hung up in my bedroom.

My anonymous friend says, "Oh I never got my degree in the mail." I continued to question him as to why he never tried to figure out why he never got it. He responded, "I just thought it got lost in the mail or something. It doesn't really matter to me, cause I know I am graduated and that's good enough for me." Shocked in awe about how bizarre that response was, I proceeded to tell him about how proud I am of that framed piece of paper that has me $13 grand in debt.

I think that was when the wheels in his head started to turn. A couple days later he came to me saying something about talking to a counselor at UVU and found out that he never officially graduated, because he still has one more class to take. I asked him, how he did not know that? He gave some kind of response that he didn't know. He did say that he had some good news. Since he's an employee of UVU, he can take this class this semester for free! Haha!

Ok so here's my dilemma. How on earth does it take 2 full years to figure out you never graduated?

If you haven't seen the movie "Dinner For Schmucks," you need to watch it.

Does anyone want to invite me and my friend over for dinner?!

Sad Day In Provo

I woke up early this morning to a couple of text messages from my mom and friend letting me know that the Provo Tabernacle was on fire. I immediately thought dang it! What am I gonna do about my date!? I have a date on Sunday night where I was planning on attending the Provo City Christmas concert that is held there annually. To the north side of the the building there is a live Nativity scene that is always a nice addition to the concert.

I grew up in Provo and have been to the tabernacle multiple times. I've been there for stake conferences, concerts, and have even performed there multiple times with the Provo High Band and singing in the Stake Choir. The first time I performed there was back when I was 14 playing the Alto Saxophone in the band. Again I returned multiple times to perform there.

I remember the spirit that I always felt when arriving to the building, and it only grew stronger as I entered into it. It does look, smell and feel as old as it is with each visit. The building was built in 1883. It is a historic reminder that took 15 years for the Mormon pioneers and others to build. It's a pioneer legacy left in Provo.

I hope that maybe some of it can be salvaged and rebuilt. It will be interesting to see what happens with it in the future. (Pictures courtesy of The Daily Herald)

An Attitude of Gratitude Reminder

After speaking with a good friend of many years the other day, I decided that I had better start count my blessings and be grateful for them. I hadn't talked to her in almost a year (i'll call her L). I asked her what she had been up to this past year and she responded optimistically that things are going great now . Ever since returning from a cruise this past week, she seemed to think that life was going to treat her a little better now. I was a little curious. Better? Isn't life always just grand? Apparently I had gotten use to my life that is full of adventure, has zero drama and not so much stress compared to my friends'.

She began to tell me all of the things/misfortunes that had happen to her this past year. I decided that I would share some of her experiences, so others can compare their life stresses to hers and maybe feel a little more grateful for the hand the lord has dealt them.

L had found out earlier this past year that her mom had developed stage 3 of breast cancer and had to go through lots of chemo. Her little niece died. Her good friend and co-worker was killed on a 4 wheeler accident. The house across the street from her business exploded earlier this year blowing out all the windows to her place and sending shrapnel into her business. She had surgery on her nose and head, got into a car accident a couple weeks ago and broke her nose on the steering wheel. She lost her best friends and roommates, because they became addicted to drugs. Had to deal with another roommate who had to be rushed to the emergency room multiple times due to her eating disorders that caused her to have seizures. The list goes on and on, but these are all I can remember. I'm sure i'm forgetting other things that she has experienced.

L's life experiences over this past year have really helped me to put into perspective the things that should, and do matter most to me. I'm never going to complain again about how crappy it is to not to have a great job, or be 30 and single. I'm grateful for what I got, and thankful that the Grim Reaper doesn't like to lurk near by everywhere I go.

I'm glad that God has decided to lighten my burdens. So what if my life is mediocre? At least I don't have to live with the stress of my friend L. She's a real trooper and hero in my book.

Demo Day at Brighton

I hit the slopes of Brighton up today with my buddy Ryan in search of some powder. We were able to find plenty of that and much more. Today was probably the sickest snowboarding experience I've ever had, because there was a little of everything you could ever ask for all in one.

It all started with the Quad Wednesday deal where you get a lift ticket for $20 if you donate a toy for tots. Can't beat a $20 all day lift pass in comparison with the $62 regular all day pass price tag.

This day also tasted delicious. The guys at the Vans tent were making and giving out free food. It was delicious! Waffles on a stick, hot dogs, and other goods made it well worth being up there. Not to mention that some of the companies there, such as Skull Candy, were giving out free swag.

Aside from that deal, today was a demo day. I have been yearning to try out the latest technology that companies have been using in competition to have the sickest ride on the mountain. I was a little blown away seeing what extremes some companies have used in order to have a competitive edge on the market.

Nitro, K2, Lib Tech, and Arbor. I tested all reverse camber boards, or commonly called Rocker boards.I was able to test ride 6 different snowboards including my brand new Rossignol Split Twin board that is great for all mountain riding, and gives a lot of energy going in and out of turns and ollie-ing. It's a solid board that I picked up for $130... you can't beat that kinda price for a rock solid snowboard anywhere.

Aside from my new board, I demoed other boards that all run from $500-$700 dollars.

I started out with the NitroT1 board. It seemed great. My normal board is a regular camber board, so riding a reverse camber was just different. The difference is a umbrella kinda shape compared to a U shape if that makes sense. The base was bad on it and it slowed me down. I like a base that doesn't always need to be waxed. But it handled decently. The bindings they put on the board had air cushions on the heel and toe part of the binding. That was nice.

The Arbor Coda board won the board of the day for me and Ryan. It seemed to be just as responsive as you would want a board to be. Attached to the board were Flux ds45 bindings that allow the biding to twist left or right, but stiff from front to back, so i think that helped to make initiating a turn feel like you were cutting through butter. Very nice. I believe this board was partially made from bamboo, and it just also felt really light.

The next board was an Arbor Del Rey board that was a regular camber board. It seemed great to me, like any other regular camber board. The bindings weren't set up equally apart, so I didn't ride it long.

I then moved over to K2 to demo their Turbodream board. It seemed like a chill board, but they put these Uprise bindings on there that had a one ratchet tighten up the heel and the toe strap kind of an operation. I wasn't a fan of that crap technology. It just felt uncomfortable for some reason. Wasn't horrible, but just wasn't a fan.

The last board was a Lib Tech Banana Magic board (wide). Now this board I thought was going to be insane, cause the rep kept talking about how the technology and construction of the board was one of a kind. The owner of the company went to Russia to collect basalt mineral from a volcano that was brought back and used in a synthetic fiber used in the base of this board. No fiberglass.

Unfortunately they didn't use any of their fancy bindings with this board. They put Ryan's old crappy bindings on it, so that made it a little tough to get a better feel for it. Neither Ryan or I were impressed with this board though. We were disappointed and thought it was a little heavy and not as responsive for being a rocker board. It looked sick though and had wavy, serrated edges. It may be Eco friendly and super durable, but just didn't feel the the smoothness of what they put into making the board. It's possible a shorter board might have been better. It was a 159. It was still great, but was still the least favorite board of the day.

I also demoed some Van boots.. They were decent, while Ryan tried out some 32 boots. He said they felt like a cast and were straight crap, but he has a size 13 foot, so who knows? Maybe they don't make good big boots?

As much as I would have thought there wouldn't be a difference in the different boards using the same technology, but surprisingly each board had a different feel to it. It wasn't a huge difference within the same technology boards, but noticeable enough to feel the difference. Overall this day turned out awesome and I only hope there will be more days like this in the future.

A Decade of Memories

Ten years ago today I was set apart to be a full-time missionary for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I tried to humble myself and become more teachable and open to the promptings of the holy ghost. I decided one of the best ways to learn more about God and his church was to serve a 2 year mission.

I decided to serve a mission after turning 19 years old. I did all the necessary things to prepare myself spiritually to be able to take on the task of becoming the lords servant. I had no idea where I would serve. I didn't care where I served, though I did have a preference to learn a new language and go abroad. If I was going to go abroad I really wanted to learn Spanish, because it would benefit me greatly since there are a lot of Hispanics I would be able to communicate with in Utah once I returned home.

I did everything necessary to get ready and soon my papers were sent to the church headquarters. It only took a week and a half to receive my call. I had a feeling that I would go to Spain, but wasn't sure. Sure enough, the first week of August 2000, I was called to serve in the Bilbao Spain Mission.

My mission covered the Northern coast of Spain from Portugal to France. I Spent 3 weeks in the MTC in Provo Utah and 6 weeks in the CCM in Madrid Spain. I then spent my next 22 months in 7 different cities along the northern coast of Spain.

I have to say that learning Spanish was extremely difficult. Probably the most difficult thing I have ever learned in my life. It took a lot of studying, practice and frustration to get to where I am today. I remember how I would talk to people on the streets of Spain and ask them if they would be kind enough to speak with me, so I could practice my Spanish. I would tell them that my Spanish was limited, so they would have to listen to what I had to say. That's when I'd share with them my Spanish vocab that only consisted of gospel talk. It was great. Once I got to the field, I learned very fast by speaking to people everyday, and studying Spanish for two hours a day on top of that.

Living in a foreign country for two years was something I was proud of doing, and will never forget the good and bad experiences I had. It was all worth it, and I saw and learned many things that have since enriched my life and my understanding of the world.

The wonderful memories have become a little faded, but they will never be forgotten.What an incredible time of my life it was to be so spiritually in-tune and act as a representative of Jesus Christ daily to spread the gospel among the Spanish people. It was not an easy task, but worth every tear and drop of sweat shed. I loved the people. For the most part, they were very tolerant and respectful.

What The Melon?

This past Fall I was introduced to a whole new world of Melons that I never knew existed.I ate two new kinds of melons I've never heard of, and I have only begun to scratch the surface of the 17 + different types of melons that I learned exist. For some reason, the only melons that I'm familiar with are the conventional Cantaloupe and Honeydew melons that can be found abundant at any local grocery stores throughout the summer months.

Why is it that nobody has ever told me there were other types of more gourmet melons in existence? My favorite fruit of all times are Melons. Water Melon and Cantaloupe are pure deliciousness to my taste buds.

As I was driving back home from a 3 day work trip to New Mexico during the first week of October, a guy I work with wanted to stop in Green River, Utah on our way back to Orem just to buy some melons that I have never heard of. I was a little doubtful at first that everything he said about these melons would be true. He said that Fall is the season for the Cranshaw and Israli melons and that they make Cantaloupe taste bland. Well... He was right. I bought one of each, brought them home and was quickly blown away by the flavor of the two; so juicy and yummy that I was about ready to make the nearly 2 hour drive to Green River just to buy me some more. While these two melons are comparable to Cantaloupe in taste, they look and taste different for many reasons.

The Cranshaw Melon is a popular melon that is a cross between the Persian and Casaba melons. And are known to have somewhat of a subtle spicy undertone to the sweet flavor. These melons taste best during the Fall.

The othe

r Melon I was introduced to is called the Israli Melon, or Ogen Melon. This melon comes from Israel and is highly popular among melon lovers. Even though a substitute for these two melons could be honeydew or cantaloupe, they are one of a kind in flavor, and extra juicy.

I highly recommend them, and I'm really glad I was able to learn about them and devour them when I got home. By far, this was one of the most memorable experiences of this past summer, because I could not believe that I have never heard of, or tasted these types of melons in the 30 years of my life! I can't wait for next year, so I can find me some more.

Hanging With The Locals

I love being able to be able to take a vacation. For me, a weekend is usually a sufficiently long enough escape for me to be able to get a break from the stresses of reality, or being couped up in one place for so long.

My trip to L.A. was just what I needed. I spent time with a couple friends, and even made some new friends while I was there. My buddy Rick showed me what it's like to be a local in Huntington Beach. He's the popular type of local who knows so many people there. It seems that Main Street is the place to be. Different bars like Sharkees are where the hot spots. Be

ach Volleyball and surfing is really huge there. Pros can be spotted there daily.

I had a great time, and only hope I get to return again soon and get to know the area more, and make more friends.

Weekend Get Away

I have been getting a little cooped up in the cold weather that Utah has been offering this time of year. It has been abnormally cold for this time of year with a bit of snow, so I decided to fly to L.A. for the weekend to visit some friends. My friend invited me to go with her to a Mae concert with her tonight, so that should be a lot of fun.
It's been awhile since I've been to So Cal to explore and check it out. I'm excited to check out Hollywood and go to Huntington Beach to visit my buddy Rick and check out the beach. Sunny and 79 degrees. I'll take that over cold and 45 degrees any day!