The Trip to D.C.

Day 1
I started out in the SLC, took a connecting flight to Atlanta, Georgia. I had an 1.5 hour layover so what is a boy to do while in the Atlanta Airport . . .ride the train, Of Course. There was a train between 5 terminals and the main terminal. I rode that one round trip, just to do it. With about 45 minutes before I could board my flight, I decided to get some food. I ate at a place called Paschal's, which was pretty much southern fast food. I had the Fried Chicken, collard greens, corn, cornbread, and Coke. It was my first time eating 'real' southern food so I had to try that too. I liked everything except the collard greens. I don't know why anyone would want to eat that stuff but I guess the homecooked stuff is better than the fast food stuff, which is usually the case. I felt very much in touch with my 'African' heritage.

Day 2
eSpencer, eJanna, and I went to Pennsylvania to go to a Bluegrass Festival. The drive up was great. Green everywhere. It reminded me of Iowa in the spring and summer. It was great sitting amongst all the old people and mountain folk, especially trying to figure out who was most likely to be their own grandpa. We saw a couple of guys who looked to be wearing sweaters but were really without a shirt. *shiver* WHO LET THESE PEOPLE OUT ?!?!
After hanging at the old people concert, we went to Gettysburg. That was awesome. We started out at Devil's Den and Little Round top. Continuted to Pickett's charge and the Angle, and ended at the All-You-Can-Eat Asian Buffet. There was just so much to see there, I'm definately going to have to go back and see more.

Day 3
After a very late start, we finally shoved eSpencer out the door and were on our way to Rehoboth, Delaware. Yes, yes, I said it. . . "Hi..I'm..in..delaware." After a brief stop at a WalMart (where eSpencer and eJanna were the in the minority) we were headed to the beach. Now, up to the 20 minutes before we actually got to the beach, there was overcast with the good possibility that it would rain. Regardless, we pressed on. Right when we got there, it was sunny, a slight overcast, and plenty of beach to enjoy. The water was slightly warmer than Oceanside, CA, which made it easier to adapt to. We three free spirits jumped in and swallowed as much ocean water as we could handle. The beach was good, not as good as California beaches but it was still most excellent. After getting our fill of the Atlantic, we walked the boardwalk, sang the song a few times, and went to the little carnival that they had on the boardwalk. We rode the Gravitron, the Bumper cars, and sqweezed our collective fannies into the Haunted House ride. My butt went numb but, hey, it was great.
Later we went looking for a crab shack or some kind of seafood place but found that they were either all full or they were too expensive, so we opted for one of the many pizza shops nearby. Our feet thanked us. We got back to eSpencer's house late again.

Day 4
This was Sunday, so we went to church at 9 am. eSpencer and eJanna teach the primary so I joined them in. I drew on some paperbags for them, chilled with Evan (my new friend in the CTR class), and tried to occupy the world's most ADD saturated kid who is called 'T-Michael' but who I renamed 'T-Mobile'.
This kid was hilarious, and when I say 'hilarious' I'm not referring to his ability to make jokes or say stuff that is witty. I am mainly referring to his ability to constantly remind everyone in the primary room that he was once 'busted by a teacher', meaning that he was supposedly beat up by a teacher, but I suspect that he was greatly exaggerating the story. He also was pretty open with his feelings, and by this I mean that he was always ready to let everyone know when they were getting on his nerves. 'T-Mobile' was also great in the fact that he was not shy about his pyromanic tendencies. If one of the primary teachers took away his drawing book, then he was ready to burn it, at least, that's what he would tell everyone. But I discovered 'T-Mobile's' kryptonite: candy. Give him some chewy candy like starburst and let him draw, then he is quiet for a good 20, maybe 30, seconds. I had so much fun hanging out with 'T-Mobile'. Evan was awesome too, I drew a Liger for him, which he liked very much.
After the Primary experience, eSpencer and eJanna has set up a sort of 'blind date'. Now, I think most of my readers know my policy on Blind dates. But for the rest of you, here is the policy: Don't go on a blind date ever...ever...ever...ever...ever...ever...ever...ever...ever... (I don't have that many 'ever's memorized). But for some reason, I went on this one. The original plan was that I was suppose to go on a group date with the eSpencer and the eJanna and a girl who, coincidentially, has the same name as the wife of Joseph Smith. That was the original plan. eSpencer said that she was played soccer, she was half Nava-joe, and that she was cute. Well, he had me at soccer, so I decided to go. But I guess that she, all of a sudden, decided to go to Virginia college before I came out (which has an excellent women's soccer team, by the way) so the plan changed to going out with her sister, Heather. Now Heather was impressive as well. She was a Dartmouth college grad in Bio-Psych, (which is a merger of Biology and Psychology. Not a double major but a melding of sorts), she dabbled in about 3 languages, she was pretty well traveled, and she was also half Nava-joe. She was cute too, but what earned her more props was the fact that she was willing to go on a blind date where she didn't even know the eSpencer and eJanna that well. So three strangers, a blind date, she was willing to hangout with us at short notice, and she endured eSpencer's and my guff. That was very cool of her.
We went to the Smithsonian history museum and only saw a protion of one floor but we spent a couple of hours there. It was awesome. Definately have to go back and see more.
But while we were there, we saw one pair of the ruby slippers that was used in the 'Wizard of OZ', we saw one of the puffy shirts that was used in Seinfeld, and we saw Kermit the Frog. There was something for everyone.
After dropping Heather off, we got some bikes and rode around the Capital till way past midnight, looking at all the monuments and memorials. My favorites were the WWII memorial, the Vietnam Wall, and the view from the Lincoln memorial. Most excellent. I highly recommend biking around the Nation's capital at night. So, so, so Fun.

Day 5
The last day. eSpencer and eJanna had to go to work. So I spent some time at one of the malls around eSpencer's workplace. eJanna was kind enought to take me to the airport and I took a direct flight back to the SLC. But, while boarding the plane, I saw a familiar face, J. Harms, the ward baker. She was on her annual road trip with her family and she was taking the same flight I was back to the SLC. It was fun chattin with her.

So there you have it. My most awesome vacation ever. I've been to a few places but DC takes the cake. Very special thanks have to go to the eSpencer and the eJanna for taking me around to all the different places and putting up with my flak. Y'all are awesome.

After watching shows like VH1's "I love the..." series, I got to thinking: If we are now in the 21st century and we are looking back at how quirky and lovable the 80's were, and I'm sure some time in the 201X years we will be looking back and reminiscing how cool the 90's were, I wonder, when it is the 202X years, what today will VH1 showcase when they run their "I love the 2000's" series. Here are some of the things I'm sure they will show:

1) Blogs - This is the season of the blog. Everyone has them, even these people. If the first step was the .com era, and now we are in the blog era, I wonder if the next step is the webcam era, or maybe the hologram message. That would be sweet.

2) Comic book movies - There has been a recient upswing in the number of comic book movies that have been made, that are currently being made, and that are in the works to be made. It's a great time to be alive if you are a comic book fanboy, like I am. Now I'm sure there will be more badly made comic book movies then there will be good comic book movies made, but whether good or bad, I'm glad they are being made. Not like when I was a kid and would spend most of my lunchtime in mid-school thinking who would be good to fill my favorite comic book movies and that would be the topic of discussion the rest of the day.

3) The flip flop fashion - I'm sure in the year 202X, we will be looking back and wondering, "What was I thinking ?!?! wearing flip flops everywhere I went. . ." This might be on the same plane as those jelly shoe things or maybe even the stirrup pants. I wonder what the trendy footwear of the 2020's will be?

4) Lance Armstrong's 7 Tour de France victories - I'm sure that he will hold the record for quite some time. But I wonder what will be more memoriable about him: His 7 vicories, his successful bout with various cancers, or his leaving his WIFE in order to be with Sheryl Crow.

5) the Rubber Band braclet - Inspired by the previously mentioned item, the yellow Lance Armstrong 'LiveStrong' rubber band braclet has inspired it's own current fashion trend. Everyone from grocery stores, universities, banks, and non-profit organizations has resorted to advertising their ideas through a piece of colored rubber that people find so facinating. I admit, I have 2 on myself, and people are always interested to see what is written on them. One I purchased because it was for a good cause, the other I found in one of my friend's car and I happened to put it on and not have yet taken it off. How will that look in the year 202X.

and finally,...
6) Coldplay - For some reason, everybody loves this band. All I've heard for the past while is how great the new Coldplay album is and that I should go pick it up. I admit, they are a good band and I have heard a few of their songs, but I don't think I would ever go buy their album, not when I have my 80's and 90's CDs that I'm still trying to catch up with. Maybe by the year 202X I'll finally come around to picking up the new Coldplay album. By then, it should be in the $4.99 and up bin.

True to my nature, I tore apart my eBay watch just to see what was inside. Actually, it started way before that. Let me back up to the night before.

The Ritz, Em, Bryce W. and I went to Lagoon. That was wicked fun. I highly recommend the Spider ride, the Samurai, and the Rocket. Anyway, while standing in line for these and other rides, Bryce and I would stand and stare at various attractions and try to figure them out. Looking at the design and function, we would try to figure out how they worked and what made them work the way they did. I'm sure Em and the Ritz rolled their eyes many times while Bryce and I engaged in our 'Nerd Talk'. I had fun, waiting in line and also riding. It was great. We were there way past my bedtime.

The next day, tired but still functional, I noticed while at work that I got some water in my watch from riding the Rattlesnake Rapids (twice). So in an attempt to clean out this water, I took the backing off my watch and That's when my curious nature took over. Rather than putting my watch under the bathroom's dryer and letting the water evaporate, I proceeded to tear my watch apart till I found what drives the gears. Apparently, most cheap watches have a Capacitor hooked to a Logic gate hooked to a Solenoid that drives the gears, at least that's what it looked like. Pretty inexpensive.

So now, I don't have a watch anymore, I had a bunch of fun, and I fulfilled my curiousity as to what drove my watch and how Lagoon rides work.

Last Trip Before School:

I did it !!! I booked a flight for Washington DC and I'm excited. I've never been to the eastside. The furthest east I've ever been is Illinois but that was just barely over the Mississippi river (Quad Cities) and I was a missionary. But this the Nations capital. I'll get to see the Wall, Arlington, Ghettos-burg, and possibily the While House. That will be so friggin' sweet. Thank goodness for William Shatner and Priceline.com for making my last summer trip a good one.

I will be hanging out with the eSpencer and I will have more opportunity to hit on My Janna. The only possible down side is that the eSpencer is trying to set me up on a blind date with some Navajo chick that lives in his ward (to those readers who don't know me that well, I'm Navajo too, so don't get all offended and stuff). She has the same name as the wife of Joseph Smith, beloved Prophet of the LDS church. And she is something like 18 yrs. old. So far, I have only agreed to meet her, maybe shake her hand at church or something. But the eSpencer can already see the wedding and the kids and the whole nine yards. D'oh. Anyway, I'd rather see Honest Abe than some blind date girl. But, who knows, right ??

So this will be the last cool thing I do before school starts and I spend the rest of the semester in the computer lab and the IT lab, programming and writing up labs.

Where's Charles S. when I need him ????

If you are bored at Work:

This is a cool little game. You have to figure out the correct sequence of placing the objects in order to win. It's fun.

Found it here. It took me a few tries. It's cool because it plays like a flash movie where you can control the sequence. It's like the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books only on a computer.