Superbriscoe's Super Blog

Riley's Photo Album

2012-01-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a bunch (~325) of pictures of Riley. We like him and think he is pretty cute. Just click on his little face and it should take you to the album. Let me know if there are any troubles. They are half resolution, so if you want any at even higher resolution, let me know and I can send you them.

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

For a long time we debated back and forth whether we even want to set up a Christmas Tree this year. We figured with school and the baby and all, maybe we would be too busy and tired to do it. In the end, we decided it wouldn't seem like Christmas without some kind of tree, so we went to Walmart and got a cheap artificial tree. It was pre-lit, so that was a definite added bonus. We put it up and then looked at the ornaments we had. It was a pretty scanty supply (2 USU ornaments, a silver bell, a Santa from Holland, and one from my first Christmas). We then hung some cinnamon scented pinecones and some candy canes and Hersey's kisses.

We put out our nutcraker, our Lego Christmas countdown calendar from Mom and Dad, and downloaded a virtual fireplace app for the iPad. All in All, it turned out pretty good. We are happy with it. Now we just need to finally get a baby to enjoy it with. Probably you should read Lindsay's blog for updates on that, but it should come this week, so that is super exciting.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. That's all.

My Work

2011-07-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

We have been in Albuquerque for two months now. We have loved it here. Now we only have two more weeks until we start our four day drive to Pittsburgh. I wanted to give a little description of my job and feelings about working at Sandia and in Albuquerque.

My technical title is Member of the Technical Staff (MTS). One thing I found is that the acronym use here is completely ridiculous. You sometimes think that the church uses a lot of acronyms, but Sandia uses way more, and for all sorts of stuff. Being a MTS just means that I am a regular full-time member of the engineering team. That is cool because it means that I have access to all the benefits of normal employees, even while I am away at school. This includes good health, vision, dental, and life insurance, a very generous 401K matching program, and a lot of other good stuff.

Right now, and probably until next summer, I don't have security clearance. That has a few good things about it and quite a few negative things. First of all it means that I can't be in the Technical area (Blue on the map) without an escort. You have be with your escort at all times, even to go to the bathroom (if the bathroom only has one exit, then the escort can wait outside, but it there are multiple exits, they have to come into the bathroom). All of the other members of my department are in the Tech area, so I am kind of separated from them. If I have questions I can't just go to there office or something like that, but have to call, email, or instant message them. This is sometimes kind of annoying for me. Not having clearance also means that I am very limited in the types of projects that I can work on and the parts of projects that they can discuss around me. That makes it interesting because I fairly often get an "I can't answer that." response to questions I ask, even about some of the uses of stuff I work on.

One of the biggest benefits of not having clearance is that my office (in yellow on the map) is not on the base (the red line), so it is way easier to get to and from it, and it is in a secured area, which is a couple of steps down in the restriction ladder from the tech area, so I can use my cell phone. I got in a little trouble (nothing major, I was just told not to do it again) for having my iPod and using it. Apparently the rules say that you can't have personal media devices. So I can't use my iPod, but a phone is fine, so I listen to all my podcasts and audiobooks on that. It seems a little silly, since my phone has all the capabilities and more than an iPod, but rules are rules.

The area around my office is called the Sandia Technology Park. It is mostly third party companies that have some business relationship with the labs. There are a few offices that are actually leased by Sandia itself, and that is where I am. My building is pretty nice, except for my office is always so cold. I usually wear a jacket. I guess before we (Myself and a student intern named Chen) were there, there were a couple of people with like ten or twelve computers, so they adjusted the vents so that it would keep the room cool enough, but with just the two of us, it is pretty chilly. Supposedly they have made a service request to readjust them, but we haven't seen any difference.

I have spent most of the summer writing a regression test suite for some software that has been written over the last eight years. The software is used to analyze data collected from test launches of the missile defense system. It presents the data in visual charts and then allows the user to use operators like smoothers or resampling to modify the results to get useful information from it. The test suite is a set of automated tests that we will be able to run to show that the code is working correctly. This is useful because then if we make any changes to the code, we can run the tests and quickly see if everything is still working correctly. I have also been helping with documentation for a qualification, which is basically just presenting and proving to a customer that the software is correct. I have helped with bug finding, reporting and fixing.

The work has been okay. Maybe a little tedious at times, because the actual code was written by a bunch of different people and isn't documented hardly at all. That means we kind of have to make the best guess at why they did things certain ways, and try to write tests that not only test to make sure their methods are right, but also that the methods are implemented correctly. It uses stuff from a lot of my classes at USU, which I like.

One funny thing about Sandia is that many people have been here their whole careers. Often when people talk to us about our futures here, it seems like that is the default assumption. From people I have talked to, that sort of thing, while still common, is becoming less so. People have told me that the pension plan and benefits have had to be scaled back, making it less beneficial to stick around forever. Also apparently there is a generational difference where people entering the work force now on average have many more jobs during their careers than the older generation. There are some great reasons to stay at Sandia. One of the big things that they talk about is how easy it is to move around within Sandia and not have to start over or change companies. Sandia does a lot of different things, from energy stuff with solar and wind power, to nuclear weapons and stuff like that, to cybersecurity and anti-terrorism, to chip fabrication, to missile defense. So basically if you get bored of what you are doing after a couple years, you can go and do something new.

I haven't made up my mind about what I want to do, if I want to stay here long term, or if I want to go out into private industry, but I will be here for a while at least and that can help me make up my mind. I am leaving August 12 to head out to Pittsburgh. Then I will be back in Albuquerque next summer, and then back to Pittsburgh to finish my masters, and then I will be back here and have a service requirement of a little over a year (15 months about). Then I can start to make decisions about what comes next.

We like it here in Albuquerque. There are definitely neighborhoods that we'll avoid, but there are places where it would be great to live long term. Our ward is great and the temple is close by. Right now we are substitute Sunday School, Primary, and Nursery leaders. It is fun and we have enjoyed it. Being real primary teachers is funner, because you really get to know the kids, but I guess this way you kind of get to make connections about who is in what families and see the similarities and stuff, so that is fun. We are in the nursery today, and that is the best. An hour of play time, and then snacks and a five minute lesson. Pretty exciting...

If anyone has any specific questions, just let me know and I will try to answer them.

Update on Bike Riding

2011-07-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

So, I have had my bike for a little more than a week. I think I am probably getting close to 100 miles ridden on it. That seems pretty good. Especially for a cold turkey start like I did.

I rode my bike to work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Monday I went the long "safe" way. The hills at the first were way harder than I thought or even than they looked in the car. It took me just over half an hour to go the first 3.5 miles. I finally got to work with a total time of 1:23. Twice I got lost a little on the way and had to backtrack, so that added to the time. On the way home I tried the short way home. It turns out that it was actually 11.3 miles, instead of 9.5 like I said in the last post. It was perfectly safe, most of it was on roads with less traffic and designated bike lanes. I made it home in 56 minutes.

Tuesday I went a different way to work and got there in 1:06. On the way home I made in in 54 minutes. Wednesday I was kind of sore and had a little chafing, so I decided to drive. Thursday I went the short way to work and got there in 1:00 and got home in 56 minutes again. This was the first day where I didn't get lost at all, so that was good. Friday I had a some clothing issues with a different type of underwear that ended up riding up a lot and being quite uncomfortable. There was also a headwind almost the whole way. I got to work in 1:06, but was more tired and uncomfortable than the other days. The way home also felt longer than it really was.

I listen to audiobooks (on double speed, of course) while I ride. I get my books from Librivox.org. One thing that you have to watch out for is the reader's voice. Unlike other audio books from Audible or CDs, the readers on Librivox are all volunteers and mostly are not professional voice actors. That makes so the quality is really hit or miss. Somethings there are different readers for different chapters, which is kind of annoying too. But they have so many free public domain (published before 1923 and therefore not limited by copyright) books.

So far I have listened to:
Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane. Its about the Civil War and kind of one boys perspective on battle and that. It was interesting, but not super engaging.
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. I really liked this. It is at least as good as Muppet Treasure Island. :) The story is fun and moves pretty quickly.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. This was really good. I like the movie and the play, but I think I liked this maybe even a little more. The descriptions and stuff are really good. It moves quickly and was fun to listen too.

I also decided to try listening to General Conference, so that is what I've been doing on the way home the last couple days. It of course is good.

Today (Saturday) I road up to the Distribution Center to pick some stuff up and then to the bike shop. I got my pedals switched from the toe cup style to the clip pedals. I like how the clip ones fill with no real pressure on the top of your foot. It makes the bike seem like more of an extension of my legs.

It is kind of crazy that I only have two weeks of work left until I go off to school. I imagine that I wont see too big of improvement in my times or in my general fitness, but hopefully I will see some. Probably one day I will try and really push myself to see how fast I can get there or back.

Here is a map of the route that I take to work:
Google Maps Route for my bike ride to and from work

New Toy

2011-07-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

For a couple of years now I have wanted to get a road bike. I like how fast and easy they looked. I liked how in newer models, the shifters weren't down on the main support bar, but integrated into the brakes. I thought that it would be way easy to get around places on a road bike than on a mountain bike.

Since we moved to Albuquerque we have only had one car. I used that as a good excuse to go to a couple different bike shops in town and look at different bikes. There was one that I decided that I liked, and after mulling it over in my head for a couple weeks, we went out and bought it today. It is called the Raleigh Revenio 3.0.

Here is a picture of it.

For some bike jibberish jargon: It has a carbon front fork (supposedly it's lighter and dampens road vibration). It has a 56 cm frame (because I am fairly tall). It has a Shimano 105 10 speed gear and brake set (the 105 is either one or two steps down from the top of the line professional quality). It is an aluminum frame, so overall it is pretty light. I am happy with it.

I also got some snazzy bike shoes for clip pedals. I didn't put the pedals on, because apparently there is kind of a steep learning curve and I didn't want to fall over like a dummy with my brand new bike. Maybe once I've ridden it a couple times I will be brave enough to try the clip pedals. I decided to wait some before buying any other biking clothes, like spandex biker shorts or a jersey with pockets in the back, but don't worry... I promise that I won't post any pictures of me wearing them on here. My next accessory priority is a pair of sunglasses, then probably some shorts with padding, then maybe a trunk rack for the car. I possibly also want, but haven't decided on a little rack on the bike and some panniers. Also maybe some splash guards for in Pittsburgh, but I feel those last things might make it look pretty lame.

So far I have ridden it about four and a half miles. I road it home from the bike shop (about half a mile). After dinner tonight we decided that we needed more hand soap and body wash. I wanted to ride my bike, so instead of driving or walking to Smith's, which is just around the corner, I decided to ride to Target, which is almost exactly two miles away. A soon as I walked out the front door of our house, there was a big thunder clap and a downpour started. I almost went back inside, but the rain felt so nice because its been very dry here lately. So I decided to just go anyways. The way there is almost all downhill, so it was pretty easy. The water from the road that splashed me was super warm from being on the hot road, so it was kind of like a shower, except the water came from the bottom instead of the top. I was pretty wet when I got to Target, so that was fun. The rain had mostly stopped by the time I headed home. The little bit of uphill on the way home helped me to realize how out of shape I was. I guess thats what I get for choosing a job where I just sit at a computer all day. Hopefully the bike will help me get better exercise.

One of the big things that I wanted to get a bike to do was to ride to work. The route that the guy at the bike shop suggested is thirteen miles. It is a little longer than the direct way, but it is on special bike paths that are completely separate from the road the whole way (except when it has to cross the streets, of course). The first three miles would be a little bit uphill, but not too bad, and then basically ten miles of flat or downhill. On the way home, the upwards part would be long, but not very steep at all, so it might be a decent way to go. The more direct route would be about 9.5 miles, and is most of the time on roads that have dedicated bike lanes right next to the normal traffic lanes. This route also would avoid some of the hills. I guess I will just have to try them both out, as well as explore other routes to se what I like best or to change up the scenery. I am hoping that I can make it to and from work in between 45 minutes and an hour. I normally spend about half an hour in the car, so it isn't ridiculously longer, and I get more exercise, which will be good for me. Right now my plan is to wear athletic clothes and take a weeks worth of work clothes in a backpack on Monday. Then I can just ride to work, change my clothes, work nine hours, change my clothes, and ride home. On Fridays I will bring my clothes home and choose some new ones for the next week. We'll see how this plan works out.

Our house in Pittsburgh is about two miles from campus. That will be a nice ride, and it will leave Lindsay with the car if she needs it for any reason. In the later fall and winter I will have to decided between walking, riding the shuttle (which has a stop about a block from our house), or riding my bike. I have heard somewhat conflicting winter weather reports, so it will be interesting to see what makes the most sense.

The people at many of the bike shops asked me if I planned on doing any competition. I don't think I will ever get too much into racing, but I can see myself doing some shorter triathlons and stuff like that. I also have a little bit of desire to do LOTOJA, but I don't know. There is a big difference between the four and a half miles I have done on my new bike and the 186 miles between Logan and Jackson.

Sorry that this is so long and rambly, but you didn't have to read any more of it than you didn't have to read any more of it than you wanted, so whatever.

Pittsburgh Adventure

2011-07-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and I have spent most of the week in Pittsburgh. Our two main goals were to find somewhere to live when we come here in about a month to go to school and to talk with my academic advisor to help me finalize my school plans. We were successful on both missions.

We got here and got our rental car. My first recommendation for anyone visiting us or Pittsburgh is to come from the west side. This is hard to avoid when you are coming from the airport, but the approach is pretty fantastic. You are in green foresty hills, like this:

Then you go into a fairly long tunnel, then you pop out of the tunnel and see this:
The picture doesn't really do it justice. As soon as you get out of the tunnel there is a bridge and the downtown/skyscraper part of the city is right there in your face. It is pretty awesome.

Our hotel was a Holiday Inn right across the street from the "Cathedral of Learning". It is the tallest educational building in the western hemisphere. It is one of the main buildings of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) campus. Here are some pictures:

On Wednesday we walked through it and this is what it looked like. The middle section for about five stories is the common room. It reminded us a lot of the great hall at Hogwarts

We spent all day on Wednesday looking at apartments. The first one we went to was awful. The wood laminate flooring was way too spongy and gross feeling. Every room was bad and the kitchen and bathroom where tiny. The second one was possibly even worse. It wasn't in a very good part of town, so we were already skeptical. The guy showing us the apartment showed us two in the same complex and both were disgusting. There were people living in the apartments and both were complete pig styes. THere was food, cloths, garbage, and all sorts of other junk filling up everywhere on the counters, window sills, floor, etc. They were gross. We saw two or three others and they were all not great. Most apartments in the city are older, with little storage, and with tiny bathrooms and kitchens. There were a couple that we decided might work out okay, but nothing great.

Here is Lindsay looking for apartments.

When we walked into the one that we ended up choosing we were like, "Woah". It was pretty different than most of the other ones we had found. Most that we looked at have been two bedroom apartments. This one has just one bedroom, but it is pretty good sized. The kitchen is big and modernish looking (as opposed to super old looking). The bathroom is good size too, and without gross brown stuff in the tub or sink. The living room area connects to the kitchen by a little serving bar that pokes out. It is pretty good. It is on the third floor of a house, with other apartments on the lower two floors. One thing that we loved was that there was a lot more light in this one than any of the others we had seen. There is parking for one car around back, and usually parking on the street in the front. There is a washer and dryer in the basement that we can use for free. The neighborhood is filled with all these fun little houses. It is in a good safe area, about 2 miles from my school.

Here are some pictures. You will have to wait to get inside pictures, because we didn't take any while we were there.

Our future apartment (on the third floor)

The houses right across the street

The street. It is pretty dark, but you can see it is fairly narrow with cars parked on both sides..

As we went through the rest of the day, every apartment we saw was compared to that one. Some were bigger, so we could fit our stuff easier, but none was a nice and finally we decided that we wanted that one. We felt that if we lived anywhere else we would miss or feel bad for not choosing it, but couldn't say the same for any other apartment that we visited.

Thursday evening we took the bus downtown and went on a self-guided walking tour of the city that I found online. It was pretty fun. It is amazing how much more history there is here than in Utah or New Mexico. There are buildings that were built in the late 1700s and early 1800s. A lot of historical people who have lived the "American Dream" have spent a lot of their lives here, like Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and HJ Heinz. They started out poor and then worked hard and became millionaires. There are all sorts of buildings that they commissioned in downtown.

There are all of these old churches right in the middle of downtown and everywhere. It is kind of crazy to see them right next to the big tall skyscrapers.

Pittsburgh is called the city of bridges, because there are a whole bunch of bridges ( 446 according to Wikipedia) that cross the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. These come together at the west point of Pittsburgh and form the Ohio river.

Carnegie Mellon campus right next to the University of Pittsburgh campus. I have to say the the Pitt campus is way more impressive, but CMU does have a few cool buildings, like the Mellon Institute (which from what I can tell is where the computer science department lives).

Mellon Institute

I talked with my advisor, Onur Mutlu about my classes. He gave me some good pointers and recommended some other people I should email for more information. I am excited and a little nervous for school, but I am sure I will manage.

That was basically our trip. Hopefully we can go see Harry Potter 7 tomorrow morning before our flight leaves in the late afternoon. It has been a successful trip.

Here some other random musings and thoughts about Pittsburgh.

- Apparently Pittsburgh, because of its industrial history, grew distinctive communities and neighborhoods. Squirrel Hill, where we looked at a lot of apartments, has a lot of Jewish people (Supposedly the second largest Jewish community outside of New York). There was an area of Wilkinsburg where we noticed that we were the only white people around. There was a section for "Little Italy". That made it pretty fun.

- Putting streets on a grid is super awesome. Utah has the streets on a numeric grid, which makes everything perfectly easy. Albuquerque has named streets, but still on a north-south, east-west grid - still pretty east. Pittsburgh is like a bunch of spaghetti dropped on a bunch of hills. It is super easy to get turned around and not know what direction is which or where we are going. Also, things seemed super far away from each other one time can seem close together the next. We kept finding streets that we knew in places where they shouldn't have been (or so it seemed). There is no way we could have gotten around without turn-by-turn directions on our phones (GPS).

- On a related note, wide streets are also super nice. The streets here are very narrow and I am almost sure that sooner or later I am going to smack my side mirrors into something.

- It is very green. There are trees everywhere. This is kind of crazy, because you can be in the middle of a forest and not be able to see and civilization or buildings or anything, and then two minutes later you are back in the big city with tall buildings and stuff. Also, when they say "park", as often as not what they really mean is forest with a few grassy areas and maybe a playground scattered around it.

I guess that is all for now. We like it here.

Day 6 : Super Heroes

2010-12-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

My favorite superhero is probably Batman. I don't really have too many reasons why, but mostly it is just because the movies (Batman Begins and the Dark Knight) are really good. I really like the Dark Knight. It is one of the most intense movies that I can remember. Also, I like that Batman doesn't really have super powers, just a lot of money, cool technology, and some good strength.

I would have chosen Superman, but hw just doesn't make sense. I'll quote The Big Bang Theory to back me up here.

Penny: Yes, I know men can't fly...

Sheldon: No, no lets assume that they can... Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32 feet per second per second... Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel... Miss Lane who is now traveling at approximately 120 miles an hour hits them and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces.

Leonard: Unless Superman matches her speed and decelerates.

Sheldon: In what space, sir, in what space? She's 2 feet above the ground. Frankly, if he really loved her he'd let her hit the pavement - it'd be a more merciful death.

Day 5: Oh the places you'll go

2010-12-07T14:11:00.001-08:00

I like photography. I like to travel. I like to mess around on the computer. When I put all those together, I get to edit pictures that I have taken. Here are a few that I have done for our various European adventures. I like how it is artsy or whatever.

Stonehenge, England

The Louvre, Paris, France

Big Ben, London, England

St. Pauls Cathedral, London, England

Hope you liked them.

Day 4: Habit I wish I didn't have.

2010-12-06T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hmm, I guess I will have to say...

I stay up way too late. Usually I go to bed around 2am, and then need to be at my 8:30 class. It is kind of rough. Most of the time when I stay up late it is because I am doing homework, and either I am stressed out about when something is due or how much I have to do in a short amount of time. Sometimes it is just because I am working on a project (usually coding or debugging) and don't want to stop in the middle of something, because in order to do this sort of thing I need to have a lot of the ideas in my head, and it takes a lot of effort to start again. Sometimes Lindsay and I get done with homework and whatever else we are doing and then we decide to watch a movie, so that sometimes keeps me up. Once in a while I play on my iPod or phone (Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds are my favorites) and occasionally I will just be stumbling because for whatever reason I am not tired.

This past week has been kind of bad. I was awake past 4 o'clock four different nights, and this week might not be great either. I have finished two projects, a take home test, a research paper, and studied for a final, as well as made good progress on a couple of big projects and assignments that are due at the end of this week. I am planning on getting some good, much needed sleep after Friday.

Day 3: My Friends

2010-12-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

This picture is obviously from my wedding. It shows me and 9 of my best friends. There is Jared Winings, Dallin Jackson, Garrett Smith, Burke Peterson, Devin Wiser, Alex Maughan, Jacob Fredricksn, and Will Anderson. Also there is my Lindsay. She is pretty great. Also a good friend.

Day 2: Why Superbriscoe?

2010-12-05T00:41:00.003-08:00

Sometimes, I still ask myself the same question. Here is the source of the name, which I will try to explain.

This is SuperBriscoe, the crime fighting superhero. He was created sometime during the summer of 2006. By summer, I mean summer here in the US. In Chile it was the winter. That means that it is cold and rainy. So one day, I wore my underarmour underneath my suit and missionary clothes, because I was cold. When my companion and I got home, we went over our day, planned for the next day, and then I was changing my clothes. Once I had taken off my normal clothes (suit, sweater, shirt, tie, etc), I probably caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I am guessing that I saw myself in the mirror (yes, I know it is my own memory, but sometimes we don't know why we do what we do.) I think I decided I was like Spiderman, or any other spandex-clad superhero, so I tied my towel around my neck and went and attacked one of the other elders who lived in the apartment with us. This got a good reaction, and I got the name SuperBriscoe. For some random reason, probably just because that is the weird kind of things that 19 year olds do, that wasn't the end of it. Actually it was just the beginning. From that night, various different things happened, such as asking a member to pick up a pair of whitey tighties from the market, went ourselves to the market the next preparation day to find gloves, a larger white towel, the creation of a sweet superhero logo, and the addition of my headband. Then my outfit was complete. SuperBriscoe appeared several times during my mission, with his most public appearance being at a ward talent night (with basketball shorts instead of the whitey tighties, for modesty's sake).

So that is the story of SuperBriscoe. I figured that that would be an easy thing to remember, so that became my gmail account, and has been ever since.

Day 1: 15 Facts about Me

2010-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

This is me.

Here are some "interesting" tidbits about myself:

1. I am not a good singer, but I like to take songs and make up random words to them to go along with whatever I am doing.

2. According to Alyna, I "dress very athletically for how nerdy I am." Thanks.

3. I can't do a cartwheel to save my life. I can do somersaults good though. Also I used to be able to do backflips on the tramp, but after a couple of bad landings I am too nervous to be able to do them anymore.

4. I like sugary candy a lot more than chocolate. My current top three are Swedish Fish, Licorice (Red vines or Twizzlers), and Mike and Ikes and Hot Tomales. Mike and Ikes and Hot Tomales are close enough to the same that I am counting them as one. On Tuesday I accidently ate a whole box of Hot Tomales in about 10 minutes at work.

5. I've been in 14 different countries and until recently was the only one in my family to go to the southern hemisphere. See if you can name all 14…

6. Before school started this year I spent about 3 hours a day watching survival shows on Discovery Science. My favorites are: Man Woman Wild, Suvivorman, Man vs. Wild, and Dual Survivors. If you want I can compare and contrast the 4 of them.

7. A lot of times I can forget that I am hungry or need to go to the bathroom for a long time, then I will all the sudden remember and have to eat or go to the bathroom immedietly.

8. Some of my biggest pet peeves are media time-outs in football and basketballs, senior citizen parking spots, and the sound of the TV turned on when nothing is playing.

9. I have a wife who makes me laugh a lot sometimes, like when she becomes the Nylon Monster, putting tights on her head and roaring, or reads Farmer Patrick Pig and cracks up whenever it mentions a pickle ( which is quite often in that one). I super love her.

10. Growing up, I participate in in 6 different sports: soccer, karate, basketball, football, cross country, and track.

11. Because I am a Briscoe, I naturally think that I am always right. I am realizing more and more that I am not. (Thanks to Lindsay, she says)

12. This semester I have spent between 40 and 60 hours a week outside of class doing homework.

13. My biggest fears, of ones that I actually experience, is heights. I am fine in an airplane or tall building, but when hiking or climbing, it scares me very bad. I also kind of like the adrenaline rush of that, so I do those things anyway. I always tell myself that I could force myself to make it to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park, but I have never gone, so I don't know for sure.

14. One of my favorite parts of traveling is researching and planning the trip. Maybe I was born to be a travel agent instead.

15. I am willing to try almost any foods at least once. Sometimes I would eat weird things just to gross Jessica and Alyna out. When I did that with frog legs in France, I tried to talk Jessica into trying them by using Green Eggs and Ham rhymes for about an hour. The worst restaurant I have ever eaten at is the China Star Buffet in Reno, NV. It was very weird and not good at all.

Day 2 - Relaxing in Reno

2010-03-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Today, we slept in, relaxed all morning, did a little homework, went swimming in the 15x15 foot pool, went hot-tubbing (more like warm tubbing) and watched some basketball on tv. It was a good change from school and driving and all of that and I think it helped us get over our colds and sickness that we've had.

Later in the afternoon, we headed up to the Lawlor Event Center. We got our passes and went in to watch our game against Louisiana Tech. We were there about an hour early, but the seats allotted to USU students (behind the backboard) were almost all full already. More and more Aggie fans kept coming. Our team started the game good and never let up. Within a few minutes, we were doing the "Up by twenty" chant. We ended up winning by thrity points, 85-55.

After the game, we went looking for a place to eat. We drove down the Reno downtown section, under the "Reno: The Biggest Little City in the World" sign and past all the casinos. We eventually decided on a chinese buffet. We went into the large buffet, and found it to be completely empty. We were the only ones eating there, and we soon found out why. None of the food was great, and most was just okay or worse, so that was an adventure. I did however branch out and try some different sea food things like squid, oysters, clams, mussels, and lobster. The lobster was the best, and then the oyster, but the other things were a little gross.

After dinner, we got a thing of Ben and Jerrys ice cream and ate dessert and watch a movie at the hotel.

The end

Day 1 - The Long Drive Made Longer

2010-03-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

Our trip started out very nicely. We left home at 11:00 am and were planning on getting to Reno around 6:00 Nevada time. We were making good progress, listening to Harry Potter, and then the Aggie basketball game, snacking, and having a great time. This all changed about 25 miles past Wendover.

It was about 2:15 Utah time when all of the sudden the cruise control turned off and we began to lose speed. There was a weird grinding noise whenever I pressed on the accelerator. Needless to say, we pulled over and opened up the hood. Since I don't know anything about cars, everything looked fine. We checked the oil and that looked fine too. The car was running, despite the funny noise, so we decided after talking to Dad that our best option was to try and make it back to Wendover where we would find a mechanic to look at it. So we continued on until we found an "Authorized vehicles only" turnaround and then snuck in. We were headed the other way, going about 45 miles per hour with our hazard lights on. We got about half way there when the engine died completely and wouldn't restart.

So there we were, stranded in the Nevada wilderness on the side of the road. I called AAA and they sent someone to pick us up and tow the car. They got there an hour later and loaded us up onto their truck. In the meanwhile, we were able to listen to the rest of the Aggie game and decide with Dad that the best thing to do would be to tow it back to Salt Lake, in order to make all of the repairs logistics a lot easier. So after the guy got there and we were loaded onto the tow truck, we headed across the salt flats for the second time. We got to Salt Lake, to a garage that Oscar recommended at about 6:00. We unloaded our stuff from the car and paid the tow truck driver for the 40 miles over the 100 that AAA pays for ($4 per mile, what a joke). After a few minutes Mom and Dad got there with the Avalon and Dad's car, and we loaded our stuff in the Avalon, said thanks and goodbye, and headed across the salt flats for the third time that day. We made good time and didn't have any problems, and finally arrived in Reno at 12:00 Nevada.

We checked into our hotel and finally got to rest after 13 hours of travel.

Run for your life.

2009-09-21T10:31:00.001-07:00

Hi, I am writing this post as a certified, official, and experienced marathon runner.

Okay, now for my own experience. (Sorry if its long and boring)

Saturday September 19th
4:45 am - Wake up.
5:15 am - Leave for Merlin Olsen Park. Lindsay was nice enough to drive me, Brianna, Nate, Dave, and Nick Wells to the Park. It is still completely dark. It is cold. There is a huge line of people waiting to get on a long line of school buses.
5:45 am - Finally on the bus. Driving up to Hardware Ranch. Its a forty minute drive. I listen to music on my iPod and try to sleep a little.
6:25 am - Weird place, the starting line was. The bus lets us out at the top of Hardware Ranch, up above the starting line, by the porta-potties. There are 60 of them all in a giant row. There are lines 8 - 10 people deep the whole way along. Kinda crazy. We walk down the hill after using the bathroom and walk past a group of mountain men (Who knows what they were doing there) and come to the tent. On the way we pass a group of people all wrapped up in space blackets. They look weird. Also there are people wearing plastic garbage bags with holes for heads and arms. Also weird. It is full of people standing there. Imagine a full subway train, or a standing sardine can type of full. We wiggle into the side and find a little pocket to stand and wait in. At least its warm in there.
6:50 am - I take off all my extra clothes, so now I'm wearing my basketball shorts, and a soccer jersey. Same kind of thing that I had been training in all summer. After I put my stuff on the bus, I work my way back through the line. There are little signs that have things like 2:00-3:00, 3:00-3:30, 3:30-4:00, 4:00-4:30, 4:30-5:00, etc. I put myself close to the 4:30 area, having made the goal of 4:15-4:45. Its pretty exciting, kind of in a dreadful sort of way, knowing that this is going to hurt and what now.
7:00 am - Mile 0 - BANG! The gun goes off and we are on our way. Walking, walking, walking. For the first few minutes, that is what it is. Finally I cross the start line and start jogging. There isn't really much space at all. Its kind of amazing that no one trips, because there are thousands of people. It is fun to look forward and see the whole road full and all the heads bobbing at their own times. I kind of find a little pocket, where I can fun without too much congestion. I start out running with Brianna. We are doing good. At mile 1, there is a line for people to use the porta-potty. Why did they not go at the start line? I do now know. Continuing ... running ... running ...
Mile 6.? - Ah, a fourth of the way done. My time is 55.40. Right about where I want it. I am still running with Brianna. Along the way some interesting sights: A lady with one leg (with a metal prosthetic), people taking off more and more of their clothes each mile and leaving stuff in the drop boxes, some very old people, a lot of people who still look fairly happy.
Mile 8.5 - Nate and Nick just caught up after running the same speed as us a couple of hundred yards back. We all just passed a lady who was probably 300 - 350 pounds. We are very confused about how she stayed ahead of us for so long. She does not look like the type who has trained for the marathon, but "hey, good luck and all the power to you." Later we passed the cross country aid station, and that was kind of fun.
Mile 13 - Halfway!! A few interesting, disturbing sights along the way. Men and women going to the bathroom on the side of the road. That is gross. Most went off behind trees, but some were just right there. One lady just stood there on the side and pulled her shorts a little to the side, not cool. People are starting to look a little worse. But at least we are coming out of the canyon. Brianna kind of faded a little bit about 10 miles or so. Nate and Nick were up ahead somewhere. My time at the halfway point was 1:59:10. Still about right where I wanted.
Hollow Road and Beyond - Now there are people here and there cheering and clapping. Hollow Road went pretty quick and the highway too. On the highway, Lindsay and her Mom were there cheering and taking pictures. Between mile 18 and 19, I pass the one-legged lady. My legs are very tired especially my calves, and I feel out of energy. The sun is up, and it is pretty hot. At each aid station I drink a gatorade, a water, and dump a water on myself. Dad is at mile 19 to say hi, take pictures of me drinking, and all of that.
The Slower Part - Once I reach mile 20, I make a decision. I am going to walk. I haven't had to walk in any of the training runs. It felt very nice. I walked for a block or two. In my mind, I said, "Okay, now I can keep going and not walk any more until the end." I ran, or more jogged by this point, up to the about mile 21 1/2. I get there and decide that I need to walk. I walk for another block and two. From this point on, I run to the aid stations walk through it while I drink my gatorade and water, and usually an orange. Then I run for about half a mile, walk a block, and run the other half a mile to next aid station. This is repeated for mile 21, 22, 23, and 24. Lindsay cheered for me at a few different places and ran a little bit with me between 23 and 24.
The End - The last mile hurt. My legs ached. I felt exhausted. Each block seemed triple length. But finally I made it to the two blocks to go. My iPod decided it was a good time to play the victory theme from Rocky. I turned that up, and tried to pick it up a little. I turn the last corner and can see the finish line. I run, the announcer reads my name and I am going. Right before the end I almost catch up to a guy in front of me. Instead I decide "This guy has been ahead the whole run, I'll let him cross first." So finally after 4 hours 30 minutes I cross the finish line. They take my timing chip, and give me a big medal. I am done!! I ran a marathon!! Nate and Nick ran together the whole way basically, finishing in 4:05ish. Marty Israelsen finished 4:42ish. Brianna at 4:45ish, and Dave just barely after 5:00.

Post-Run - First thing, I went and got water and gatorade. Also chocolate milk, goldfish crackers, a fat boy icecream sandwich, and some great harvest bread. I sit down for a few minutes, then get up. I give Lindsay a hug. Its kind of sweaty. Gross. Then after a while more, we gather up my stuff and start towards the car. Unfortunately it was like half a mile away. I walked a few blocks, but then I was too tired to go further, so I sat on the grass and waited for Lindsay to come with the car. I took a shower and went to sleep. Saturday evening I was very sore and it hurt to walk, so I stayed in bed most of the day. Sunday it still hurt. Monday also. I normally have 3 miles to walk between classes, but Lindsay was nice enough to drop me off at my first one, so that takes .6 off of that, but it still is not the funnest day.

Hopefully my legs get feeling better and I can appreciate what I have accomplished, but for now, it is over, and that is the best thing about it.

Pictures to follow

School and Such

2009-09-12T11:20:00.002-07:00

So school started a few weeks back. I am doing fifteen credits, five classes with three credits each. See I can still do math. All of my classes are Monday Wednesday and Friday, so on Monday mornings, I get up at 7:30-7:55 am depending on the day. Usually it is Lindsay who starts pushing and poking me saying “You have to go to class” “I’m too tired, just a few more minutes” “No, get up now.” “Okay. grumble grumble.” Then I turn on the sink and shower. This is a requirement with the tankless water heater, because for some reason the shower doesn’t pull enough hot water to turn the water heater on. Then I wait for about 5 minutes for the water to heat up. Finally I leave, hopefully before 8:10; I park at the bottom of Old Main Hill and make the walk up it and to the engineering building.

At 8:30 I have ECE 5530 Digital System Design. The professor is this nice little ?indian? guy. His english is good, so that works nicely. The class is fairly “easy” compared to some of the others, and focuses on designing digital systems (duh.) like counters, adders, latches, and flip-flops. I have a lab for this class Thursday morning at 7:30. We use a Linux-based design suite. (You will see this as kind of a trend.) Some notable people in my class are Zeke Susman, who I work with and has kind of been my trainer on the internship thing I’ve been doing. Also Nathan Breitenbeker. I have been with some classes with him in the past, but never really got to know him. You will soon find out why he is a notable person.

At 9:30 I walk clear across campus to the institute. I am taking the Gospels. I have the class with Lindsay. It is good. I kinda like her a lot. She is very cute. We are going through the four Gospels by author, which I am a fan of. We had to choose as a class between the “harmony” or individual approach. A=We are taking it from Brother Harding. He is a good crazy guy. Also in my class is a kid named Nathan Breitenbeker.

At 10:30 I walk back across campus to the engineering building. I have ECE 3620 Circuits and Signals. I fairly much hate this one. It is a bad mix of differential equations, electrical circuits, linear algebra, and hard. My professor is named Chet Lo. He is from Hong Kong. He also speaks mostly well. I have been able to do the assignments that we get once a week, but they take a goodly amount of hours. Nathan Breitenbeker is taking the same class at the same times as me.

At 11:30 I get a little break from all the exercise and only have to walk a short distance to the fine arts building. People there look weird. Well, I guess in the engineering building, people just look different levels of the same goofiness, but in the fine arts, you might see long wavy blonde haired boys in rocker attire (complete with skinny jeans), sad introverts with cutoff jeans, long white socks, and cowboy boots, girls seeming to be having make-up contests (see who can where the most…). etc. It is always exciting. I go there to study and appreciate the “Masterpeices of Music” (MUSC 3010, which I am taking for a depth creative arts credit.) I also have this one with Lindsay. She is still cute. Our professor is a nutter. She is a music lady, who talks like she is teaching preschoolers. We spent a few days with the elements of music (forte means loud…) Then watched some sweet and by sweet I mean lame VHSs about non-western music. One memorable quote. They were talking about a Japanese musician. They said “He died just a few years ago, in 1959.” Now we are starting Medieval music, like Gregorian chants. It reminds me of evensong. Mostly Lindsay and I play computer games. It is a good break.

At 12:30 I go across campus again, this time to Old Main. I have CS 3100 Operating Systems and Concurrency. Our professor is American. He speaks alright and isn’t even too0000 weird. Everytime I go to class, I remember why I am not a computer science major. Those guys are NERRRRRDY. In this class we do all of our programming on Linux. Some of them look and act like they are in love with it. They are dressed like geeks and lack social skills and stuff, but the class is pretty fun. There is one boy in my class named Nathan Breitenbeker. He isn’t too nerdy.

At 1:30 I trek back across campus to the engineering lab building. I have ECE 5930 Computer Systems. It is kind a weird thing, because it is also a distance education class, so all of the lectures and stuff get recorded so one person in some other place can watch and participate. It is a good class and I am learning a lot about assembly language, compilers, how computers work and all that stuff. Our first lab homework was to solve fifteen “puzzles” where you could only use bitwise operators and no flow control statements, like if-else statements, for loops, or anything like that. I spent a lot of time on it, like at the family reunion, and in my other classes, in the car, in the shower, during runs, etc. Lindsay can probably attest to the random mutterings of things like “100010001, wait, that doesn’t work,. 0100101010, ah, that might be better.” Kind of annoying, but she’s the one who married an engineer, not me. Our next lab is a data bomb. He gives us an executable (aka program). It asks for six passwords to defuse the bomb, or else it explodes and sends him an email and we lose points. I have to decompile it and then examine the assembly code and figure it out. It takes my whole brain. If Lindsay talks to me while I am working on it, sometimes I freeze up and have to reboot. My lab partner is someone by the name of Nathan Breitenbeker. He is sometimes helpful. Also, we use the Linux Lab computers.

After all these classes, I sometimes go back to the Linux lab to work on one of my many assignments. Then I walk all the way back across campus and to my car. Six trips across campus per day. Who needs to exercise. I go to work if it isn’t too late, usually one to two times per week, for two hours. I come home and do other stuff and homework.

On Tuesdays, I get up fairly early because Lindsay has an early lab, and I go to work. I work 8 or so hours and then come home. It is good. Right now I am starting this little project to research and find a replacement embedded real-time operating system for our VCUs. Embedded systems and real-time operating systems are two classes that I still have to take in the future, so I am kind of swimming in deep water. I mostly understand what I am doing, at least enough to do it, and I keep asking questions so I don’t get too lost. Also I work for 6 hours or so, so I work between 15 and twenty hours.

So that is school and work. The end.

Garden and Animals

2009-09-12T11:20:00.001-07:00

We planted all sorts of vegetables and filled up the garden. We faithfully watered, but we didn’t feel like it was all that important to weed while the house was super flooded, and after that there were too many and we were still super busy so we got discouraged and didn’t weed any. Our peas were great there were a ton. We also had a million raspberries, but we stopped picking them after 4 batches of jam, 12 bags of frozen raspberries, and Lindsay getting bit by a horsefly resulting in a week of swollen foot and a week of antibiotics. But the Clarks and Israelsens still pick them once in a while.

Our carrots are kind of shrimpy but they taste good. We’ve got potatoes and onions too. Our lettuce and about half of our cucumbers tasted bitter. The Clarks had success with tomatoes, but Lindsay doesn’t like tomatoes, so we don’t eat them a lot. Our pumpkins are looking good too. We’re also excited for apples and plums. We got pepper starts from Lindsay’s mom, but a weird thing happened. The plants didn’t grow once they got outside, but the peppers did. So we have puny little plants holding pretty big peppers.

Things that failed: beans, they didn’t even pop out of the ground. I guess that’s what happens when you go searching through the garage for the seeds for your garden. Also corn. . . It was looking great until we went to Europe and according to Grandpa they got too much water while we were gone. So now they are all white and wrinkly.

I would say it wasn’t too bad for our first gardening experience.

Pet update: the cat is still alive despite all our efforts. It likes to sit outside the office door like a creeper and waits for us to come out of our room. Also it still hides in the back of the bathroom and when you least expect it, the cat comes out and starts rubbing your leg while you are using the toilet. It creeps Lindsay out, and I’m not such a big fan of it either.
The fish: At the moment there are three fish living. All the flood contractors and painters think the plecostomus looks prehistoric.

The horses: dead, no just kidding, how do you kill a horse. I’m starting to have to feed them and i’m not looking forward to it so much.

Nate’s cows: Nate’s 3 cows live where the dogs used to live. They are getting pretty big. Nate is planning on selling them in October so he doesn’t have to deal with them while he’s getting married and such. Turns out his profit will be a grand total of. . . . $50.

Sicky

2009-06-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Please add to the family sicklist: Lindsay Kathryn Briscoe
We have had an exciting week. Maybe not so much as Lisa and Cameron, but still not too fun. Basically ever since we got back from our road trip to the Grand Canyon and Morgan and Sadi's wedding, Lindsay's stomach hurt. At first it was a dull pain that wouldn't go away, and then on Thursday it started to be a sharper pain right beneath her diaphragm. We got a little worried when by SUnday it didn't improve. So on Sunday afternoon we went to the family nurse (Michelle) for a little advise. She listened and gave a few ideas and things to try. That was helpful. Nate and I also had the opportunity to give Lindsay a priesthood blessing. It is amazing to be surrounded by so many great and worthy men. Most of the day Sunday Lindsay was fine, but that night we were awake a lot of the night because it hurt a lot. So Monday morning she went to the doctor with her mom, I was at work. The doctor did a fairly quick diagnosis of either Gastritis or an ulcer. So Lindsay is now taking gross stomach lining repairer medicine that tastes like rotten strawberry milk with chalk bits in it, yes I tasted a tiny bit, four times a day and some other pills two times a day. bleak. Also she is on a quite restrictive, aka not fun, diet where she can't eat spicy foods, fatty foods, greasy foods, acidic foods, caffiene, chocolate, citris fruits, tomatoes, or anything that tastes good. That isn't really too much fun. With medicine and a diet, it is supposed to heal itself completely within a month, with the pain stopping within the week.

Tanya, Lindsay's mom, has been super helpful and willing to do whatever to help out. Also Michelle has been asking and showing some good concern. We are doing fine, but if you would like to send any donations, whether it be in kind or monetary, please do so to: 149 East 200 North, Providence, UT 84332. Thank you for your generosity. Ha. Just kidding.

Actually something that would help would be some good ideas of foods that taste bad enough to be allowed. That would be helpful. Love you all. Peace out

Busy House

2009-06-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

It has been kind of a busy week here at the house. Yesterday Morgan and Sadi Pope arrived after their honeymoon in Disneyland. They will be here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They live in the second apartment. It is fun to have them, because they are our first close friends to get married. We really like Sadi, and Morgan is okay as well. Hopefully we get a chance to play some games with them before they head back down to Phoenix.

Also today, we had the excitement of hosting about 25-30 Zollingers on a tour of the house. They were all in town for the funeral of Chet Zollinger and all the sisters wanted to see the house. It was fun to listen to them get excited about different features that were still there in the house and also be amazed about how much things had changed. One funny interesting tidbit is that Ron and Diana Zollinger (of the Zollinger fruit farm) lived in the third apartment when they were first married. Also Ron's parents lived in the third apartment when they were first married. So that is just cute. or weird. whichever.

In the random short visits this week we have had Will Anderson for about 30 seconds to get a book and drop off a check. Nate to get help burning a DVD of his mission slideshow. Dave and Nate came over to help look at the plumbing problems in the basement. Michelle came to borrow red Jello. Brianna Bagley came to get help fixing her bike tire. Mom Bagley came a goodly number of times to take Lindsay to the doctor and take care of her while I was at work and bring her soup. Marion Done came creeping around on her walker to deliver a present for Lisa and Cameron. The Emery's stopped by, but just to the porch when we weren't there, to leave Lisa and Cameron a giant box.

So yeah. I guess its a good thing we keep the house so immaculate. Other wise that would be VERY embarrassing.

An Inspirational Love Story

2009-02-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a happy love story that is better than any other love story I've ever heard. Also, it's about 89% accurate.

Once upon a time I was running cross country in high school, I don't want to brag too much, but I was pretty good. It was the summer and I usually didn't pay much attention to the new girls, most of them only lasted a few weeks anyway, but there was a girl that caught my attention. I'm not going to lie, but she wasn't the best runner in the world, actually one of the worst, but some how Lindsay intrigued me. Lucky for me, my dear sister Jessica was good friends with Lindsay, and I was able to spend time with her without too many questions being asked.

Cross country was over before I knew it, and I wondered if I would be able to spend that valuable time with Lindsay. Lucky for me she decided to run after school in the winter, she is a very social person and I'm pretty sure if her friends hadn't encouraged her to run she wouldn't have at all, especially in the winter.

There is one very specific day that stands out in my mind, where I am pretty sure I fell in love with her. Morgan, Madie, Lindsay, and I decided to play in the snow instead of run. That year there was an excessive amount of snow and the mountains of snow on the edges of the parking lot were huge. We being the mature high schoolers that we were decided that we should race to the top of the mountains showing no mercy. If someone was in the way they were fair game to get trampled or thrown down the mountain. It was a blast. That day I realized how much fun Lindsay could be and how I loved to hear her laugh.

I took Lindsay on her first date when she was 16. We went ice skating, I don't really remember it too well, but it makes the story better.

I didn't spend a lot of time with Lindsay after I graduated, before my mission. She was hanging out with Jessica when I decided to attempt the "Gallon Challenge", I failed. But for some reason she didn't have a problem being friends with a failure, also, she wasn't grossed out. :)

Lindsay knows good music, so I lent her my CD's while I went on my mission, with the promise that she would return them if she got married. Lindsay came to my farewell and wrote me every couple months on my mission. None of them were romantic or anything, just friendly letters telling me about her life and what she was up to. I, in turn, sent her letters of advice about college-- like the best place to have a nap (the institute building).

Lucky for me when I got home from my mission Lindsay wasn't married. She did have a boyfriend, but he was kind of a loser, actually a pretty big loser, so I positioned myself perfectly for when she came to her senses and dumped the lameseter. I found out what ward she was in and joined it, also I joined her Family Home Evening group.

One night, just after I found out about Lindsay's recent change in relationship status, I went to a hockey game with her and a couple friends. We had a great time, even though the it stinks in the Eccles Ice Arena and I don't know anything about hockey. Then we flipped conversation hearts at each other at Lindsay's apartment. It was so much fun. It's amazing how even the simplest things can be a blast with Lindsay.

I really really wanted to go canoeing all winter, but I wasn't allowed to go until it was March. So once March came around I got out the canoe and tied it to the top of the truck and texted all my buddies telling them that they could have the chance of their lives and go canoeing with me. So I anxiously awaited for my friends, and Lindsay was the only one who came. Everyone else wimped out on me. But we were both excited to go, so the two of us took off and canoed around the Benson Sloughs. We talked a lot, and I realized how much we had in common and how she was so enthusiastic about life. We had a slight problem afterwards getting the canoe on top of the truck, but we got it figured out.

Lindsay spent a lot of time with me and my friends over spring break and on and off during the summer when she wasn't working. I went to Europe for a few weeks and she went away for 3 weeks to Philadelphia, and our vacations overlapped by about 3 days, so we went over a month and a half with out seeing each other. I took her roommate on a date to the fireworks when she was gone. It was exciting when Lindsay came home, we started hanging out a lot.

The day I finally got Lindsay to fall in love with me was just a few days before school started. A group of us decided to float down the canal on a hot summer day. I was going to share a tube with Kandice and Maren, but Dallin was really clumsy and kept falling over backwards in the water, so I let him be in the the big tube with the girls. Lindsay and I some how got a ways ahead of the group. We talked, laughed, and had a small water fight. Lindsay told me about how she missed Jacki and she couldn't tell Jacki everything that happened to her. Then she said "Well I guess, it's only a few days, not too many super exciting things could happen to me."

I mentioned a few things that could happen to her, like getting in a car crash or falling in love. Apparently at the moment she fell in love with me. She started texting me things that happened to her, like the fact that she had great cell phone reception in her apartment.

I invited her over to watch Heroes a few nights later. Some how she strategically placed herself so that there was less room on the couch and my spot was smaller. I looked at her with the look on my face that said "what happened to my spot".

She just smiled and said "You can cuddle with me". So I did.

I've been with her ever since.

I'm Back

2009-01-31T18:33:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been a few months since I wrote on this thing. I guess I kind of started a revolution, seeing now as everyone, including the more unlikely candidates such as mom and Lisa, have blogs. What a wierd wierd world we live in, but that is okay.

Life is going good. The official count is down to 763 hours. That isn’t too much, so I am pretty excited. Right now school is going good and I am able to pay at least nominal attention to my classes. We will see how long that lasts. I have microprocessors, which is having me feel a little bit nerdy and not too happy financially, after having to buy $125 worth of electronics parts, as well as a book. Also they are outdated models, which aren’t actually used in industry anymore, so I have a hard time understanding why we use them. I am taking an Institute class of the Miracles of Christ. I really enjoy it. Being a little slow as I am, I finally caught on that it is wise to choose classes by the teacher, not the subject. Last semster I had Parables of Christ, which has so much potential, but I didn’t like our teacher at all, so it wasn’t so good. Then I have Family Finance. It is the biggest class I’ve had ever, but fairly easy. Garrett is in the class with me, and we usually play Pocket Tanks (fun) or do our homework (not fun) as well as copy down the lame stuff from the powerpoint slides. After that, three times a week I go and pretend to swim. I amn’t so good at it, but I get my breathing and heart rate up and feel the workout in my arms and legs. Also I am getting better, so my brain doesn’t panic from lack of air when my head is in the water. The first day I did it, I threw up afterwars, but it is getting easier. Then I have Intro to Probability, again with Garrett. It is MATH 5710, which is quite a high level math class. It has been pretty easy so far, but I think this week might be the last where I can say that. We are starting into more obscure concepts. My final class is Data Structures and Algorithms. My professor is a chinese guy who doesn’t speak to well and explains a little worse. I find the material boring and think that the class is going to be tedious and painful.

So my day at school begins at 8:30 and I get done at 2:20 without any real breaks. Then I eat something on the way to work. Salad has been good this last week, spending $3 on a good sized bag of it and about $1 on my favorite creamy poppyseed dressing. It is very significantly cheaper to take leftovers or homemade stuff than buy fast food.

I get to work by 3 and work until 6. Then I go home, which takes about half and hour. On good days, Lindsay will meet me there and we will do something for dinner and then start homework. Then I usually work with Garrett for a little bit on homework, maybe clean up around the house or my bedroom, play games, take naps, feed the animals, or other things.

That is kind of a normal day. On Tuesdays I have Microprocessor Lab at 7:30 Tuesday morning, which lasts about 3 hours. Then I go to work and am there from 10:45 to 6. On Thursdays. I go to Lindsay’s apartment in the morning and then we go snowboarding for part of the day. Saturdays are pretty similar.

I will write later about the story of my engagement, with all of its exciting preperations and all that stuff, but now I am finally out of lame Data Structure class.

Adieu