Hitler reacts to BYU loss

this is good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6CROOR2QN8

Card House

Here's my newest hobby. Card house building. It's actually very therapeutic, when it doesn't fall down. I've tried it before, and been semi-successful, but the last couple of months, things have really taken off. I set a new personal best with 11 stories the other night. Here's a picture on the way there-

Unfortunately, the finished product didn't have the chance to be documented. It's life was short.

Then tonight, I figured out how to make a dome. The next project had to be the pantheon... or the capitol... or something-

I don't know why I always put the cards facing the same direction. I think that I might be slightly obsessive compulsive. That's probably why that Whoopi Goldberg apples to apples card is bothering me so much.

Oh, how I wish I had real talents.

60 years ago today

I went to a lecture today about Helmuth Hübner. He was an LDS kid in Germany who was the youngest person to be executed for Nazi resistance. It happened 60 years ago today. One of his friends who helped him was there. He went to prison until the end of the war. It's a pretty interesting story. http://www.truthandtreason.com/

Leaping from tree to tree as I float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia!

I took a career interest test the other day and got the results today. There was one career that was a perfect match! 70 out of a possible 70 points! And it was..... a Forester! The advisement councilor had seen Forest ranger on the results before, but never Forester, so she looked it up. It's pretty much a lumberjack! For those of you who have never heard Monte Pythons lumberjack song, you need to. It was the first thing I thought of.

4th pic

Elizabeth, you had something up on your blog about the 4th picture in the 4th photo album on your computer. I wasn't really planning on participating, but out of curiousity looked at what mine was. Aahhh, the memories it brought back. Here is my favorite eating establishment in the world, the Heidelberg Falafel shop. It has the best food and best turkish musik I know. Oh, and the Jesuitenkirche behind it.

Professors

I have a few fun professors:

Bro. Stott is not a teacher at all. He is the head of the BYU police dept. I guess they were a little short on religion professors. I was wondering how things would turn out, but so far, it has been one of my best classes. It's very insightful, and we hear great stories about his undercover drug bustin' ops in the 70s.

Dr. Holland is the son of Jeffery R. Holland. He teaches my american heritage class. My favorite part is his choice of materials. We've see clips of monty python, the simpsons, and other quality teaching aides.

Prof. Kelling is the funniest old german man I know (and I know my fair share of old german men). He also wrote my textbook. that's pretty cool.

The Iron Butt 100

A couple of weeks ago a friend here told me about a century ride in Heber. I've always wanted to do a hundred mile ride, so I decided to go for it. He ended up not being able to come, so it was just me and my camera:

The drive up there

Lots of open road.

All this riding makes a man hungry.

Mile 72- Delirium starts to set in.

Reason #14 real cyclists shave their legs: You dont get bugs stuck in your leg hairs.

The finish line was a little anticlimactic

We weren't speeding. We were qualifying.

Saturday we had a time trial to see who would go up to the big BYU-Utah race on the 20th. It was a 4.5 mile climb up to Squaw Peak. Amazingly, all five of us qualified for the 10 man team. Hopefully some more will come out before the real race. It was fun, but what was even more fun was the 4.5 mile descent with plenty of hairpin turns and eye-watering speeds. Provo is such a great place to ride.
Hmmm. I look a little out of place.

Mansion

There was a little get together the other night to get to know people in the BYU 16th ward. It was at someones house that someone in the bishopric knows. I wish I had some pictures. It was a nice looking house from the outside. There was a sign saying to go around the side of the house, enter some door and go down the stairs. We did just that, and started wondering when the stairs just went down, and down, and down. Finally, they ended and we turned the corner to find a full basketball court, a full racquetball court, and a gym. Up some other stairs (but still very much underground) was a dining area with glass lookouts over the courts, a couple pinball machines, a skeet ball machine, and a theater that seated 15 or 20. Uh, it was a pretty nice place.

My New Steed

I've had a good few years with my last bike, but the last few months, I've been looking for an upgrade. I finally found a guy who was selling his old one which was pretty much just what I wanted. I've taken it out on a few trips, and it's amazing. Here she is:

The Roomates

Well, I've made it to Provo. I'm in an appartment of 6 and have some pretty cool roomates:

Drew and I were companions way back in the MTC. He works there now teaching german, and I still see him in a white shirt and tie. Hmmm, hasn't changed a bit.
Devin is the one I actually share a room with. He's from Canada. He works at our complex, so we get all the sweet stuff.
Tanner is the son of a couple I knew in Heidelberg. His dad was the bishop of the american military ward there. That was a suprise. He went to Berlin on his mission, so we're well represented.
Lance is from Utah. I haven't seen him in a few days. I think he's off doing landscaping somewhere.
Seth is from Missouri. That's all I know. I hesitate to ask if he's a Mizzou fan.

Recent Book

I just found a book that I read and accidentally never returned to the library. It was pretty interesting. While I was in Germany, I lived in a small town called Wetzlar. Wetzlar's claim to fame comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's most famous author of all time. He moved there when he was just older than me in 1774, and started writing this book, called The Sorrows of Young Werther. It was partially based on events in the town and tells the story of this guy Werther who falls in love with a girl, Lotte. But alas, Lotte is engaged to Albert. It follows his suffering until he finally kills himself. The book propelled Goethe to stardom and was even translated into tons of different languages. Something that has made the book even more famous is that many young people read the book and then killed themselves in a similar fashion. Some estimate the number as high as 2,000. Considering that I'd lived there and even visited some of the sites from the book, I figured I ought to read it sometimes. I thought I'd wait around until I found it in German, but when I stumbled across it in the library the other day, I figured that then was as good a time as any, even though it was in English. I was pretty impressed, especially when I thought that the guy who wrote it was pretty much my same age. It was very well written, and the best part is, I got though it and I'm still alive!

i LOVE craigslist.

I think craigslist is one of the best things out there. I'm constantly finding the coolest things, but also practicing a lot of self control by not buying much. There have been, however, two offers that I could not have refused.

The first came several months ago- a pair of telemark skis that were in great shape and super cheap.

The second came just on Saturday. Someone in Farmington was giving away her old airline bike box, that she probably bought for over 200 dollars. Who knows if I'll ever take a bike anywhere on a plane, but it is good for moving or storing a bike securely, and heck, it was FREE.

Colorado Trail

This week was one of the highlights of my summer. A couple friends and I hiked much of the Colorado Trail. Even with the buckets of rain, it was a blast.

This is about 3 or 4 miles into the trip where we met the first person going the other way. "Where ya comin' from?" we asked.
"Denver"
Wow.
These pics don't do it much justice, but the wildflowers were amazing.
Here in the distance you can see purgatory, our local ski resort.
We stumbled upon the perfect campsite one day . Have you ever had such a view from your toilet?
Yes, that is snow.
59 miles, and about as many bug bites later.

Maryland

The last few days I spent in Maryland with my sister and her family. Except for a few days this last Christmas, I haven't seen them for 3 years. We went to Baltimore and wandered around, visited Mount Vernon, and spent lots of time just hanging out. It was a great time.

I also tried teaching Jarom here how to solve a Rubik's cube, but he just wasn't getting it.

Zions, Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Antelope Canyon

My parents and I wanted to do something together before I take off, so we spent a few days visiting some of the area's natural wonders. I took lots of photos.

I heard and spoke more German than I have in a long time. Europeans were everywhere! In fact, the first people I even saw after the drive over was a couple whose picture I offered to take for them. I could tell they were german, so we started talking, and it turns out they live less than a mile from my old appartment in Moenchengladbach! That was reason for another photo:

After a while I realized that they were everywhere, so I stopped trying to talk with all of them. Instead, I'd just stand next to them at scenic overlooks, listen to their conversations, and get really sentimental. It made me realize how much I miss it.

Unemployed...AND LOVING IT!

Friday was my last day of work! I figured that I'd be pretty tied up after going off to school. I've also reached my goal of how much I wanted to save up, so I decided to leave my job a little earlier than originally planned and have some fun this summer. There will be quite a bit of camping, a trip to Maryland, and lots of sleeping, so stay tuned for some sweet new posts.

Triathlon-take two.

I wrote that I was planning on another triathlon, so I figure I ought to write a few words about it:

THAT WAS TOUGH!

There. It was lots harder than the last one, but still lots of fun. The best part is that a couple of my cousins, Thomas and Tyson Taylor came down from Denver to do it too. It's been a long time since I've seen them, so it was great to catch up. (they both beat me.)

Nothin' like boating on Sunday

So, my parents went up to Utah last weekend to deliver a boat to my brother-in-law's brother. I went with them, because it sounded like a good excuse to get away from work. About halfway there, the tire on the boat shreds to pieces, and we're left on the side of the road. We don't have the right sized wrench to get the lug nuts off, and the spare is flat, so my dad took off to take care of that. My mom and I stayed with the boat, and enjoyed a nice afternoon. We got some puzzled looks from those passing by, but none stopped until a state trooper noticed us. He was quite nice and had the right sized tool, so we started taking off the tire. About this time, it's remembered that the boat and trailer have no licence plate. So, there's some praying going on that he won't notice, and it only gets more sincere when the SECOND state trooper pulls up. Dad got back with the tool we now don't need, we get the spare on, and he leaves to return the tool to the gas station he borrowed it from. The fuzz stay directly behind the boat the entire time he's gone, but don't notice. When dad gets back, we high tail it outa there. In the end, the spare started having its problems, and we had to overnight somewhere and get it fixed. Ahhh, good times.

Fire Melon!

So, my friends saw a video like this a while back, and decided that we needed to try it. What you'll see is half of a small watermelon that has been hollowed out, filled with gasoline, and set on fire. This is where the golf club comes into play. Pure fun ensues.

Gallup Triathlon

Last Week I went down to Gallup and did a triathlon. It was a blast! I
gotta say that I think I'm hooked

Here's picture #1. It's me...uh...drowning. I'm not the best swimmer in the world. But, on a more positive note, I did make it to the end of the 400 yards, and I think I swallowed less water than usual.

Next came the cycling. I felt much more comfortable with this. My favorite part is passing people with bikes that cost several thousand more than mine. That wasn't too hard, because I was quite a ways back after that dumb swim, and my bike is pretty low end.

Last was the run. These triathlons just get better and better as you go, I guess!

All in all, It was pretty fun. I'm doing another one next week, which I'm really excited about.

Bala Verde!!!

The main thing on my mind today is Alejandro Valverde, my favorite cyclist. He's had an awsome year, winning the Dauphine Libere race last week as well as Liege-Bastogne-Liege a few weeks earlier. With a few big names out of the Tour de France this year, it's looking like he has some great chances. I'm stoked. Since no one I know cares about this kind of stuff, I'm glad that I'm now a blogger and can talk about it, even if it's just with my computer.

I'm a blogger - woo hoo!

Well, I've now joined the blogging world. I realized the other day that I have not taken a single picture since I got home from my mission. I'm mostly starting this whole blogging thing in the hope that it will motivate me to take some more pictures. So, we'll see how it goes!