Thanksgiving in California

Lake Arrowhead

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1-3: scenic photographs taken by myself
4. Tara wore her grandmother's Russian hat as we hiked around
5. Tara is here enjoying some Crown Royal, which is the #1 selling Canadian Whiskey in North America
6. Our rooms had views of the lake
7. Tara drooled on me

Yachting to Long Beach

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1-2: scenic photos around Long Beach
3. Home of the Long Beach Crips
4. the parking spot next to the restaurant
5. An old lighthouse
6. Boats in the harbor
7. The other side of the restaurant
8. The yacht compared to the Queen Mary
9. approaching Long Beach
10. The controls to the yacht
11. The Queen Mary and the Hanger where they used to store the Spruce Goose
12. Mike's wispy hair blowing in the ocean wind
13. TylerONE smoking pot in the back of the yacht
14. Tara

Thanksgiving is coming

Thanksgiving is almost here. Today I fly out later today on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Tara maintains that we need to be at the airport 8 hours early. It should be a good trip. We'll take pictures and post them when we get back. Happy Thanksgiving.

Dan in Real Life (2007)
Steve Carell is the star, and he's pretty good. I would have to warn you that Dane Cook is in the movie. There are some funny parts, but not enough to make it worth 7 bucks. Wait until it comes out in the dollar theater.
3.0/5 Stars
This book by Chinua Achebe is a very short read. It's about an African man who struggles with the changes in his culture during the colonization of Africa. The author is African, but from an entirely different society and time than what he's writing about. His book seems reactionary to other books about Africans around that time. Pundits call it a classic, but my skepticism is too great to overlook it's flaws. Only pick it up if you are very interested in the subject.
2/5 Stars

The Renaissance Brother

So Lindsay and Emily don't think I'm intelligent or cultured enough so I am going to implement a new system. Occasionally I will put up book reviews, movie reviews, and even YouTube reviews. I think I've already displayed my sports knowledge prowess and this will be an effort to prove to them I am more well-rounded. Besides, if one of us reads a good book a or sees a good movie we should let the others know about it right?

DISCLAIMER: Mom & Dad you can't watch movies so you shouldn't even be looking at this.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

This movie has a young Johnny Depp and Leonardo Dicaprio. Depp plays a young man who has to take care of his family in a small town. He has a retarded younger brother (Dicaprio), a hugely fat mom, and a bratty sister . I thought it was interesting and had good acting. Dicaprio is a good retard. It's not a must-see, but good nonetheless.
4/5 Stars

We Are Crazy

Hey everybody,
Have you all seen Lindsay's blog? She's a real up-n-comer. I'm in the back of the library trying to study for a test, but I got distracted. There is a grown man (probably 40s or 50s) back here with me, he has a book propped open with a picture of Stalin in it. He has different brightly colored pens with which his he scribbling franticly on pieces of paper while he mumbles under his breath. Every once and a while he looks up to his Stalin picture for inspiration. He is EXTREMELY frantic. I am surprised he has that much energy, it would cause severe cramping to a normal human. I walked by him so see if it was possible to write words that fast--it's not. He is just writing lots of loops. I don't know who he is, or how he got here. I wonder if anyone else is aware of my friend. With all the schoolwork I got to do I don't think there is much of a difference between the two of us.

Preseason NBA All-Ugly Team

As we embark on the NBA season it's time to post the All-NBA Ugly Team honors. Awards go to those that always have their game faces on.
FIRST TEAM













Charlie Villanueva, Milwaukee Bucks
Known as "Skillanueva" on his NBA.com Bio, says his favorite player growing up was Reggie Miller, an Ugly NBA Hall of Famer.













Christopher Zane Kaman, LA Clippers
Kaman, a perennial favorite to take home the MVP award, starts another arduous season with the Clippers. He battles for "Alpha Dog" status with teammate Sam Cassell.













Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls
The highly-touted ugly prospect looks to make his rookie splash in a big way. His mother was actually a model--i.e. she was good looking--but Noah has overcome all odds to be where he is today.











Donyell Marshall, Cleveland Cavaliers
Donyell's versatility has made him one of the best all-around uglies in the game. Last year my roommate spotted the Legend in Las Vegas and described him as "tall, black, and ugly."














Sam Cassell, LA Clippers
The wily vet rounds out the team with his 14th consecutive nomination. Age has had virtually no effect on his game.

HONORABLE MENTIONS


Keith Closs, ex-LA Clipper, working his way back
Closs has also received recognition on YouTube. In the video he is shirtless outside a club in LA arguing with gang members. The skrawny 7 footer towers over the crowd. The mob, unimpressed by his stature, beats Closs for a few minutes before he can escape. The joke was that the lowly Clippers lost 67 times that season but got beat 68 times.







Coby Karl, LA Lakers








Brevin Knight, LA Clippers






















Yao, Houston Rockets
Yi, Milwaukee Bucks
The American Dream: Ugliness emerges from the oppression of China.

-----Those are all the preseason awards. As the season continues the contenders will separate themselves from the pretty boys.

Hey I think everyone started blogging again since my challenge. That is great. Lindsay even committed. I'm impressed. Hope you all have great plans for Halloween, here is a weird Halloweenish picture of me.
Also, A-Rod has opted out of his contract with New York. I see him going to the Anaheim Angels of California near Los Angeles. If would be the perfect way to spurn all of his former teams, the M's, Rangers, and Yankees. It's a nice fit for him there because Angels fans and sportswriters aren't that demanding (they still have their rally monkeys--basking in the glow of their 2004 championship), Southern California is a big market, and there are plenty of Latinos there to make him feel at home. Arte Moreno is delusional enough to believe his team is from LA and Anaheim; he is also delusional enough to believe paying A-Rod 30 million a year is worth it.
There is also a chance that he could go to Chicago to reunite with Lou Pinella, or even the Dodgers, but I don't see him going to the National League.

Supreme Court Justice & Orem Red Sox

Greetings Family, Friends, and Luddites.
Today the Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is speaking at the University Forum. Until just recently I thought that Rehnquist was the Supreme Court Justice, but in my defense Rehnquist died in 2005, when I was on my mission. Anyways, everyone is making it out to be a big deal and I now feel obligated to go. It should be interesting. I was wondering if it was more in Justice Roberts' interests to influence students at BYU, or for BYU to somehow influence Justice Roberts. I guess he doesn't worry about influencing the Mormons too much, he has security in his position.


On another note the Boston Red Sox have advanced to the World Series and I couldn't be more dissapointed. Since winning the World Series the Red Sox have become the quintessential "Bandwagon" team for Utahans. I attribute this to the acquisition of the lovable David "Big Papi" Ortiz, the allure of old east-coast Boston , and the fashionable neutral red/blue colors of the organization. It makes no sense at all. Outside of BYU paraphernalia, Red Sox apparel outdoes Jazz, Bees, Flash, Broncos, 49ers, and Rockies (albeit all the sudden there are Rockies fans popping up from nowhere).
These "die-hard" Red Sox fans have just recently expressed and embraced a hate for the Yankees. Why do they hate the Yankees? Because they are rivals of Boston, of course. Everyone hates New York. But why have fans before this Sox craze hated the Yankees? It's because they had much more money than anyone else, bought other teams' stars, were successful, annoying players, and had a large obnoxious fan base--ranging to some of the biggest bandwagon fans.
Is this not the Boston Red Sox? This last year the Yankees payroll was 195 million dollars. The Red Sox payroll was 145 million dollars. The median payroll was 87 million. They are obviously on the far side of the spectrum. What star players have they bought out? Manny Rameriez from the Indians, Curt Shilling from the Diamondbacks, Josh Beckett from the Marlins, Daisuke Matsuzaka from Seibu Lions (for 100 million, more than the payroll of all but 7 MLB teams), Eric Gagne from the Rangers, and JD Drew from the Dodgers (ok he might not be a star, but he's paid like one). In terms of success, the Red Sox won one World Series after decades of nothing and they turned from the Cubs into some kind of "dynasty". Annoying players, look no further than Jonathan Papelbon or Manny Rameriez. Needless to say there are obnoxious Red Sox fans everywhere not just Utah. In Utah the sports polygamy has reached new levels. Fans that are annoyed of people who choose "their" teams out of the sports salad bar are labeled bigots.
This is the state of sports affairs at BYU, sad as it is. The World Series will be hard to watch, I'm not sure who I want to win. The Yankees 2.0 or the Colorado (wait!--I like the) Rockies.

Challenge

Yeah that's right, the biggest game of the year. Tomorrow when these 2 powerhouses face off I will be watching from home. I have to say that I'm conflicted, it just doesn't seem right to root against the Cougars or my Eagles. My allegiance to both schools is strong.
In other news, I'm the only member of the family posting blog entries anymore. I don't even have kids to take pictures of. Lindsay hasn't started a blog, although many of us thought she would be all over this. She expressed her security concerns to me, which seem to be legit. One solution we discussed is using code names for the grandkids. That would be easy enough. Here, I will give Lindsay some ideas so she can get started:












Efrain









Lateefah









Engracia

There, it's handled. We all know their code names now. All I had to do was visit an ethnic baby-naming site. Now you can make a blog. There is also an option to make it so only people you select can view your site. I think that you would be really good at it. But as it is right now, with you still out of the game, my blog is the best. Quality, design, content--I'm tops in the league. But you guys aren't even making it hard. Those who have blogs aren't posting, and half of the family doesn't even have one yet. This is a challenge to you guys.
School is going well, we had midterms. I did well on all my tests so far, including a 100% on my New Testament midterm. I'm still stressing out about how to finish my independent study, I need to write a few research papers for that. Tara said she would help me, so I'll probably be fine. Anyways, I can't wait to see your new blogs.

Untitled

I think every time I talk to someone in the family they ask me what classes I'm taking, so I might as well post it.

Introduction to Advertising
English Writing in the Social Sciences
New Testament
History 202
Introduction to Communications (Independent Study)

In addition, I need to prepare a 30-second video for my application in January. All my classes are going pretty well. I think I got the highest test score in my advertising and I feel like I did well on my History written exam. Next week I will take a test for New Testament and English. I'm on track to get good grades in all my classes.
The class that I am most worried about oddly enough is my independent study class. I've done well on all the quizzes and pretty good on the tests. I have finished the book and now I have 2 five-page papers, a written assignment, and another paper left (not including the final). I'm a little nervous because it all seems so subjective, and I receive next to no feedback or instruction from the professor. I've concluded that he's an idiot, because he doesn't keep his material up-to-date with the book. I informed him of three of his quizzes that were flawed, and he went back and fixed my score. I know that it's independent study, but I've never been so dissatisfied with a teacher.
And a final addition to this rant is that I've become more irritated. BYU has a lot of loud, annoying people. I can't escape them. Not even in the library. My home isn't quiet either, my house mate plays techno music at all hours. It's starting to go crazy. I wish I owned some noise-canceling headphones or something.
Sorry for writing all that, but it makes me feel better. Back to work.

The Concert

Last weekend I found myself at a Smashing Pumpkins concert. The concert was in Orem at UVSC in the aptly named David O. McKay Building. I went with my old roommate, Larson, and some of his friends. I felt a little out of place because they had all been to 50 or so concerts between themselves. We bought our tickets from some guy in Salt Lake the day of the concert and got 20$ off each ticket. It was strange to see Billy Corgan (the main singer) in real life, he is very tall with extremely long hands. He is a strange looking guy, but he seemed nice. There were some dorks there that some with and big name performer but it was still enjoyable.
As far as the Jerusalem idea goes, I've written off the idea but I keep on running into people that just went there, like Tad Farmer. He recommended it highly, but said that it is a more difficult curriculum. I don't know.
Also I'd like to publish my official guess for the next Apostle, Elder Charles A. Didier.

What to do next semester?

Well I've found that I've been explaining my problem for next semester to several of you, and sometimes twice over. This is the situation: I'm applying for the advertising program, a limited enrollment program. The soonest I can apply is January, and not at the beginning of January (that would be WAY too convenient), but mid-January. So what that means is that I can't take classes from the major in winter semester.
So what do I take? I will only have one remaining GE to complete, a religion course. Most courses at BYU are either GEs or limited to people within the major, or applying to the major. It wouldn't matter to me as much to take just any class if I wasn't applying to law school afterwards, but since I am I don't feel as inclined to take econ, math, or stats just for fun (which isn't that fun from what I've heard). Any of these challenging and unnecessary classes could put a dent in my GPA. So I'm not so sure I want to do that.
Another option I've considered is just taking the religion course and getting a full-time job. There's nothing wrong with that except I'd be wasting the free tuition that I can get from the Church.
I asked my New Testament Professor, Br. Ludlow, what I should do and he recommended going to Jerusalem. His dad teaches there. They have openings for next semester. I've always wanted to go since Lindsay went, but it costs 7 thousand dollars for the whole thing. I don't know if mom and dad serving would knock off any of that though. It would definitely take care of that GE though.

I don't really know what to do.

More pictures

This is the starboard side of the Yacht that we were on, the "Laguna Belle". The other yachts in the harbor had various names from the interesting to the political, but our yacht was aptly designated. It has 2 rooms, 3 floors, 2 engines, a flatscreen, and GPS. There is probably a lot I'm forgetting.













The Getty Museum in LA










California Adventure













LA


























some fisherman on our way out of huntington harbor













Pulling up to Catalina Island..





Catalina









The boats in the harbor..
















































We had much more fun than we're showing here. I think this is when we started thinking about the Dramamine.