Schmack Friday

I've never understood the appeal of getting up at 4 am to shop on Black Friday.  But then, I've never done it, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing.  I generally avoid shopping on Black Friday.  The good stuff is supposedly all gone by 12:01 am anyway, so there's basically no difference between shopping today and shopping a week from now except there won't be crazy-neurotic zombie mobs killing each other for parking spaces a week from now.  I'm pretty sure the "amazing sales" are the unicorns of the shopping world anyway.  They don't exist.  Everyone just looks for them to keep their little shopping hearts believing in something.  Stores put out, like, one inventory item each that's on a deep discount, and then the managers watch from their towers while wringing their evil hands in maniacal delight as the shoppers take the bait like a churning shoal of ravenous minnows turned against each other.  The carnage, the mayhem, the...ah, heck, it really boils down to me not wanting to wake up early and drive around for an hour just to find parking in order to save a buck.  Yeah, that's pretty much it.

I love snow days!

I love seeing families out sledding, and snowboarders down the street.  I love seeing a dad pulling his little daughter in a sled across their yard, or kids making snow angels.  I love the freshly frosted trees and rooftops with chimney smoke fluffing into the still air!  I love the softened sounds and cozy clothes!  And I love friends who let me stay with them when I'm stranded downtown by stand-still traffic on icy hills and bundling up to watch a movie with the windows rattling in the wind as flurries swirl past street lamps!

Reviving Frugality

I'm necessarily remembering financial rules/tests I used to employ fairly stringently but about which I've become far too lax:

• would I rather buy X now or pass up 10 X's for a Y later?
  
• can I obtain X or a suitable substitute more cheaply another way?
  
• should I pay that much for a restaurant meal I could make at home?
  
• only allowed 1 luxury item at the grocery store (that includes anything with little or no nutritional value or many items for which there are cheaper or more healthful alternatives, such as fresh salmon vs. frozen or artisan bread vs. whole grain)
  
• again with groceries, if it's not on sale, it's not an option, unless you specifically need it for a recipe or it's a needed, basic staple (milk, cereal, bread, etc)
  
• never purchase on impulse: if you didn't come looking for it, walk away, and if you remember it later, and it still seems like a good/wise purchase, consider buying it (anything over $50 requires sleeping on it--no same-day purchase if it wasn't planned)
  
• if you don't have cash from your last paycheck to back up the purchase, put the credit card away and move on
  
• make a budget and stick to it, putting excess in savings or using some for special occasions (a monthly occurrence, however, wouldn't be considered "special" but would be part of the budget)
  
• never shop without a specific goal, and don't deviate from the list
  
• you may love that sweater, but do you need another sweater? Remember that some people are fortunate to have warm clothing at all, let alone being concerned with what kind of "variety" they have. Just keep it in mind.
  
• it may be an amazing deal, but unless you wanted it (or would want it) at regular price and were waiting for a sale, pass it up. If it's a rare find at a really good price, fine, but if it's just another find at a pretty decent price, that's no reason to spend money you could be saving for something else.
  
• come up with ideas of things to do socially which don't require spending money, so you don't have to choose between spending money and staying in all day. If your friends are big spenders, either propose alternatives, join them after they've spent, or buy appetizers instead of meals, help them shop but don't buy for yourself, arrange to hang out with cheapskate friends on the nights the big spenders are at expensive concerts, etc.
  
• if you had no friends or family to stay with or help you out, could you survive on your own for several months out of a job? Wouldn't you rather be able to help others whenever you want?
  
• Which do you want more: this item/food/concert/clothing/service, or financial freedom?

I'm sure there are others I can add as I think of them, but this is a start to get me thinking along frugal lines again, which goodness knows I need to do. I probably won't re-adopt the more hard-and-fast rules so strictly, but I'll swing the pendulum firmly back in that direction. Aside from the financial necessity of it, there really is something to be said for not longing for "more", being happy with what you have and where you are, and for exercising restraint for longer-term security.

On a related note, while I don't think of myself as a very materialistic person, and I'm disgusted by the rampant consumerism I've observed in Utah, I do find myself spending far too casually and losing some perspective in the process. The exchange of goods and services and money, while a necessary tool in our society, is meaningless except as it relates to people, relationships, and personal growth. There's no need to feel guilty for having financial security, but it's a truly beautiful thing when you're able to be happy with what you have, recognize the difference between needs and luxuries, truly appreciate luxuries as luxuries and not as entitlements, and be confident life would not lose all savor and richness if you suddenly had no money to spend.

Relationships and personal growth, not gratification and "stuff", are what I believe bring real happiness. It's hard to keep sight of that, perhaps, when you're not sure where you'll live next month, or you're at risk of losing your home, car, or savings, or you're accustomed to high standards of professional craftsmanship or artistry in your furnishings, food, clothing, or cultural events. But I think it's easy to remember when you are with good friends and family and realize it doesn't really matter what you're doing together.

Admittedly, even though money doesn't buy happiness, financial security greatly reduces stress. There's a lot of stress in losing financial stability and dealing with knowing that your family is having to make severe adjustments because you didn't establish financial stability. And I can only imagine what it's like to wonder whether your kids will have to leave their beloved home, or change schools and move away from friends, or stop taking piano lessons, or not get dental work done because you lost a job or accumulated unnecessary debt. Yes, people with crooked, infected teeth who don't have the means to pursue every interest and move from place to place and live in shacks can be happy too, and it's important to remember that, but I'd like to avoid having to make my decisions (and my possible future family's) out of compulsion as the result of my lack of planning and foresight. If I/we move, or refuse medical treatment, or forgo opportunities for learning and developing talents, I want it to be because I/we think it best or consider it a positive change, not because I/we have no other choice.

I think it's time I started thinking beyond today again and work towards financial independence and security. OK...so...right...here I go...aw crap, this is gonna be easier said than done, isn't it?

A Month In The Life...

Obviously, I've not been updating my blog for a while. Just sporadic posting here and there. I've been running around, mainly between Utah and Idaho, and every time I've thought about updating, I've just gotten a bit overwhelmed and decided I'd rather make memories than record them for the time being. But there's something to be said for journaling and for updating those of my friends and family who are interested, so I'm catching up with the Cliff's Notes version of my last month or so. I know it's a lot, so skip what doesn't interest you (for many, that may be the whole wretched mess, which is fine with me). :-)


DISNEY WORLD
(Pics posted separately)
I flew from New York to Orlando to meet my parents and Sidney, just missing the tail end of...was it Ida? The change to warm, t-shirt weather was welcome after the blustery last day in New York. Jason and his sister, Ashlee, met us there for part of the weekend, having flown in from Georgia and California. Friends and family in Disney World: GREAT way to follow a last-minute job interview in New York. We had a great time in Disney World, hitting all the theme parks and Treasure Island (including DisneyQuest--the Pirates game was pretty dern fun--and Cirque du Soliel's La Nouba, which was great as usual--my third Cirque show so far [Varekai and Ka being the others]). Some highlights:

• Slumber party with room service pizza and a ridiculously expensive in-room movie.
• Toy Story 3D game in Hollywood Studios, which Maw, Sid, and I went on a total of...three or four times? You should see Maw when she's shooting stuff to bits. It's intense.
• Sid and I ate at Il Mulino at the hotel and had a good talk and some pretty much amazing food (perfectly cooked pasta certainly didn't hurt and is surprisingly rare), particularly the gelato and sorbet we took back to the room to share with the grandparents/parents.
• Gummies and chocolate and dessert buffet.
• The gorillas at Animal Kingdom.
• The Italian pavilion "cast members" and the greeter at the French restaurant.
• Dad in the Frogman gallery.
• Bluezoo butternut squash pasta and scallops, which made my soul resonate with culinary joy.
• "You're hairy." -Sid during lunch at the Magic Kingdom.
• "Oh shhhhiii-oot!!!" -Ashlee on the Jungle ride in Magic Kingdom.

JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT?
*BZZZZZT* No-go. Rejected. I wasn't all broken up about it, but it was disappointing. I have no idea what the reasons are. I may have to contact one of my interviewers through a friend to see if she has any suggestions for me.


COOKIES, GAMES, AND A CRAPTASTIC MOVIE
Got together with some acquaintances before Halloween to frost some holiday cookies. Here's a picture of a dry one I frosted.

We also played TriBond, which was much fun, then watched a movie, which a couple of us pushed on the others, remembering it as a really funny movie from when we were younger: Haunted Honeymoon. It was...well, not as funny as I remember. But I still love Gilda Radner and Dom DeLuise, and Gene Wilder is pretty good, too. And the scene with him sitting on the other guy's legs = classic comedy. But I think the highlight was when someone commented that the maid looked like Elder Bednar in drag:

DIAMOND FORK HOT SPRINGS #1
Four of us hiked out to Diamond Fork Hot Springs up Spanish Fork Canyon in October, braving newly cold temperatures. About halfway up the trail, we were startled to happen upon the rear ends of several cows, including a calf or two. As we shrugged and started following them up the trail, the rear-most calf scampered forward into the small herd, and the rearward cow turned and postured at us. We stopped and slowly stepped back a bit, leaving them some respectful distance. So we continued, slowly plodding along behind a bunch of moseying cows. As soon as they veered off onto a higher trail, we scurried forward to avoid meeting them again where the higher and lower trails intersected. The rest of the hike up was pretty uneventful. After an hour or so of soaking, we headed back down. We had a good laugh when Steve, who was in front, came running backwards into the group clapping his hands because he'd seen something of non-negligible size dart through some shadows. A short while later, we heard something in the brush just off the trail and, as we walked on, slightly faster now, questioning what it was, we smelled it: it was a skunk, and it was spraying. We ran. As we bounced down the trail past another group, we warned them. As they reached the point we'd darted from, we heard one of the girls behind us say, "I think I got some in my eye!" We laughed, of course. Around the bend, Steve again jumped with a start as he looked to the right and saw a ghostly outline of a large skull in the shadows just a few feet from the trail: the white head of a large, brown cow. Naturally, as he jumped, he yelled, "Aa, cow!" Again, laughter. ...until the nearby calf acted scared, and the cow started to get up. Again, running.



DIAMOND FORK HOT SPRINGS #2
Late November, another group headed up the canyon for a dip in the hot springs. This time, the trail was packed snow and ice much of they way, so the hike was an adventure in an entirely new way. Apparently, we needed more excitement, though, so Randall turned all Rambo on us and started throwing snowballs from unseen hiding places. Up at the springs, one of the guys found a great pool I'd not been to. I was really skeptical at first because it was more shallow than the one I'd been to before, but it was great. Out of the way, right near the waterfall, and totally adjustable temperature. It started out too cool, so we put some rocks around the inlet, and we roasted ourselves, then found the perfect balance. I also discovered the joy of holding the empty water bottle at the bottom of the pool and letting it go, resulting in a rocket (demonstrated in a photo below by one of the cohorts). Simple pleasures, I tell you. The trip down, in the frozen dark, was slightly more treacherous, and in a few parts, all we could do was hunker down and slide down the trail for a few feet, hoping we'd slide straight rather than off the side and down the hill. I wish I'd taken pictures of the sliding.







CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD
Justin and Derek were visiting Utah from Seattle for the weekend, and we all went to Christmas Around the World, a performance by BYU's international folk dance teams and alumni. This one was far cheesier in some ways than the other one I went to a few years ago, but it was very fun, and it was great to have some Seattle friends visiting for the first time in quite a while. Visiting other friends, playing Blokus, eating at Mazza, watching 80s movies, good times.


WII WITH THE PARENTS AND OTHER IDAHO FUN
I've been spending quite a bit of time in Idaho lately, between Thanksgiving, getting my car fixed by the dealer they trust up there, and just needing to get away from Utah and have some quiet "me" time in solitude to read, edit photos, look for jobs and housing, etc. It's also been fun to connect with a couple of friends up there and get to know them a little better. I even found someone else who knows and loves Big Business, a movie starring Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler I hadn't seen since I was pretty young but used to love. I have to admit I loved it more then, but it still brought joy to my heart to watch it again. And of course I love playing the Wii with the parentals. We take turns winning at bowling (mostly Maw), and I thrash at MarioKart (until I play online with gamers who humble me). Yes, my parents own a Wii. I know. Weird. :-)


VIENNA TENG IN PARK CITY
After my last trip up to Idaho, I swung by the Salt Lake airport to pick up Ty and whisk him off to Park City for the Vienna Teng/Alex Wong concert, which was great as usual. I enjoyed hearing old favorites re-created with percussion and performed on a large-ish stage with lighting effects at the Eccles Center. I'd only seen her perform at small-venue concerts before, so this was a fun change of pace, even if less intimate. In the lobby, I asked Vienna and Alex to sign a couple of things for me, and as they did, I did the stupid fan thing and told her how much I enjoyed the concert and then told her that of all the musicians I like, she's the one I most want to have a conversation with over dinner or sipping steamers in a jazz cafe or something. She said, "Well, I hope we get to do that sometime. Are you coming to the thing after this?" My first impression was, "Wow, she actually put that out there. Interesting. Maybe she doesn't think I'm a total creep." Then I talked myself back, "Well, maybe she's trying to avoid you asking her out by thinking of a neutral, public setting she can give you a token word or two." With this dialog going on in my head, I said I didn't know what that was, so she asked one of the organizers about it, and the organizer said they were having a reception. Alex asked the organizer if it was open-invite or list-only, and she said it was kind of a list thing. Meanwhile, I was thinking, "Wow, this is kind of awkward, waiting to find out if I might be invited to something but wondering if I should just say something to relieve them of trying to gently let me down...but what if I could get a chance to talk to her just a little...that would be cool...no, no, let the poor girl go." I said, "No biggy, I'm not trying to sneak an invite or anything, I'm just saying if the opportunity came, I wouldn't reject it." She repeated she hoped we get to, and I, not wanting to force myself or be all creepy (I mean, she has no reason to believe I'm an interesting person, let alone a sane one) just smiled and thanked them for the concert and wished them a good night. On the way out, Ty basically called me a wuss: "So...y'know...maybe...if someday...we were able to talk...maybe in the next life of something..." Jerk.

We then headed to the family cabin/apartment of one of Ty's friends, in downtown Park City, where I related my little awkward exchange with one of my favorite musical artists, and Patrice informed me I'm a total wuss and should've asked for Vienna's contact info and let her know I was going to be in Park City. I said I didn't want to come across as creepy or pushy, and she said if a guy's creepy, anything he does is creepy, and if he's not, such an invitation or request is flattering, so I had nothing to lose. We discussed briefly. I learned a thing or two about how smooth I am not. But I wasn't exactly looking for a date! Just letting her know that I think she's an interesting person I'd like to have a conversation with...of course, if I really want to, why not try to? In my effort to not be creepy, I ended up being all awkward and wussy. Ha, lessons learned (hopefully). Better luck next time!


TABERNACLE CHOIR CHRISTMAS CONCERT
The next morning, rather than linger and loiter as cabin-apartments are meant for, we woke up early to get down to Salt Lake to the Conference Center for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with Natalie Cole. We woke up to well over a foot of new snow. The Jeep was buried, but I am loving 4-wheel-drive more and more as we get deeper into winter. Love it. Michael wasn't so fortunate, and his little sedan was too low to clear the snow, so he had to dig out to get out the long driveway. Unfortunately, Ty and I had already left, thinking the other two would get out fine, so we happily went to the concert while the others dug out of the snow. I felt bad about that. ...but hey, by the time we found out, they were already leaving, so no sense in losing sleep over it: on to the concert! It was great (sorry to those who missed it) as usual. I've been to five of these in a row: fun tradition I highly recommend. Tickets are hard to get, but if you just show up, you'll often find someone giving away tickets, much more so on Sunday morning, which doesn't even always fill up.




There have, of course, been other goings-on, but most don't inspire narratives or would otherwise not make good, light-and-fluffy blog entries. Yes, life's been busy, even in unemployment. Oh right, I'm supposed to be job-hunting...

The Mystery of the Blue Honda

It showed up a few weeks ago. We thought maybe someone was visiting the neighbors from out of town and needed a place to park. We've since learned this car has nothing to do with the neighbors. A blue Honda Civic parked on the street in front of the house sits there in puzzling permanence, occasional moving, often gone during the day, but always returning to the same general area to sit overnight in a place that makes no sense to any of us. The most confusing things about it are: a) we can't figure out what the H it's convenient to because there's ample parking in other areas of the block in front of other houses, etc, and b) we've never seen the driver go in or out...until today!

I was casually pouring myself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with 1% milk when I saw a middle-aged guy with a glasses and pronounced widow's peak in his dark, combed-back hair carrying a multi-colored umbrella (we got a dusting of snow this morning) opening the car and getting in. My eyes widened, and I thought, "The elusive Honda-beast! He appears!" I quickly alerted my roommate, who came rushing out to witness the diurnal activities of the Honda-dweller. It was a little like a scene out of The 'Burbs. He got in the car, closed the door, then got back out and walked up the block a bit. I went back to my breakfast until I noticed him reappearing after less than a minute. Where had he gone? Why had he returned so quickly? Did he vanish into a wormhole and return instantaneously in Earth time? He opened his car again, and again sat and closed the door.

This time I watched from a secluded window. He got out again and walked across the street...to the elementary school. He walked up to the door, shook off his umbrella, stayed there for a moment, then walked up the block along the school. He disappeared around some kind of utility shed and was not visible for most of a minute until he reappeared, tightly hugging the school's wall as he walked, as if surely no observers could see him after such a stealthy move around the utility shed. I was intrigued as he rounded the corner of the school into the parking lot and playground area. I hopped in my car (looking into his when I walked by just to look for clues as to his situation: a kids' drawing hanging from the rear-view mirror, child booster seat in the back, tacky bobblehead on the dash...) and drove around the block to follow him. After weeks of wondering who this person was and why their car is annoyingly parked where we park, and once even boxed me in, the yutz, I wasn't going to pass up on clues.

As I rounded the corner, I saw him looking into a window or a door, then backing up and walking casually back around the building towards his car. I finished my loop around the block, but suspecting he'd be back within view of his car when he returned, I didn't want to park right there, so I went all gumshoe and drove to the back of the house and parked there instead, going in the back door. I am ninja.

I wondered: is he a father stalking his estranged children at school because his ex-wife won't allow him custody? A child-collector luring kids in by making it look like he has his own kids? A homeless guy living out of his car and sleeping in some nearby alley at night?

At this point, I decided that additional observations were probably not going to offer me more clues. I chuckled at the prospect of me crouching at the window with binoculars and wearing all black, spying all day to note every movement, departure and arrival times, patterns of behavior, etc, like you'd see in some sitcom. I decided to come back to this puzzle another time.

After a short while, I heard buses and noticed wee ones getting out of school. Must be kindergartners done with their half-day. Perhaps he was picking his kid up and hoped to leave early; maybe he wanted to sneak in some extra time rather than just delivering them straight to their mom's house like he usually does? Maybe he lives or is staying with someone just around the corner but parks there right in front of the school so he doesn't have to fight for a spot or have his kid(s) walk unnecessarily. Or maybe he's a nutball. I want to be a private detective so I can solve puzzles all day. Veronica Mars inspires me.

What's that you say? Just step out the front door and say 'hi' sometime and strike up a conversation? I might find out he's a nice guy and have all my questions answered without all the cloak and dagger? ...Pish tosh. What's the fun in that?

The World's Best Chips, and Other News

I am enjoying the tangy, salty crunchiness of the world's best chips: Tim's Cascade Style Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips (my "one treat" this time--I allow myself up to one treat per grocery shopping trip, and I disallow myself excuse-for-treats shopping trips unless it's for a social thing), and it's reminding me that many of my favorite things and people hail from the great Northwest.

In other news, I was just at the gym watching a news report about how the H1N1 virus has reached emergency proportions. The gym was packed. Bring it, swine flu, I can take you.

In other news, I really should stop putting off writing a thank-you letter to Ellen. I saw her show at the gym a couple of days ago, and I was reminded of how much I like her and how much I appreciate that she gave me a king-sized bed. OK, she didn't give it to me, but I won it from her show. I mean, who should I thank? Simmons? Pish tosh. Ellen made it all possible. OK, her goons made it all possible, but I'd rather write to Ellen than to her goons.

In other news, I am loving wearing thermals and sweaters again. Soon it will even be cold enough for scarves, which aren't as exciting as sweaters and thermals, but still a fun change.

In other news, I have been editing tons of photos lately. I'm not sick of it yet, even though it gets a bit tedious. I want to pace myself to avoid burnout, but I also want to test the realities of more intensive photo work as I face the possibility of making it a self-sustaining hobby, or maybe, in the longer run, a source of income.

In other news, I want a cat. But I can't have one. Sad story.

In other news, I really like the way I look right after a workout, blood pumping, skin smoother and tighter, hair silky...it takes a few years off, I think. Too bad it only lasts a few hours.

In other news, I've realized I don't care enough about my physical appearance to expend much effort, which isn't boding well for the whole muscle-gain idea. Meh, I'm ok just maintaining health and staying relatively thin.

In other news, is there any way to de-stink an old towel that has started stinking after just one use, or is it just time to toss the stupid thing?

In other news, I really like Anderson Cooper.

In other news, I was wearing my red-and-black striped H&M hoodie in Macey's tonight, and it dawned on me that I was probably dressed a bit "loudly" for Provo, Utah, when I ran into a guy with huge feathery hair and a neon pink-and-black striped hoodie on. I felt quite out-done and was OK with that.

In other news, a girl at the gym gave me quite the stare for a moment...I was tempted to ask for her number just to see how it might go down. I didn't. I smiled wryly but turned away rather than flirting (which I sometimes do just to see what will happen or whether she'll flirt back or act shy or glare/laugh at me for being way too full of myself to realize she's making eyes at some guy behind me). I wondered if she cared that I was completely uninterested and whether it impacted her self esteem. I shrugged and went back to doing sit-ups and thinking about relationships and communication and how/why Vienna Teng wrote this new song and whether the kid who just walked by recognized me and how people shouldn't overtly flirt if they can't handle rejection anyway...

In other news, I want to watch the seasons of Project Runway I missed.

In other news, I can't seem to leave Utah. Why is this place such a black hole?

In other news, it's late, and I'm going to bed. OK, I'm in bed, but I'm going to sleep. OK, I'm probably not going to sleep right away, but soon, and this is distracting me. The end.

Less Boring Than I Think

I was chatting with "Hoosteen" tonight, and when he asked what I'd been up to, I said, "not much," then I told him I just did some stuff here and there the last week and a half or so:

• hiking Rock Canyon with Carlos,
  
• taking pics of Stephanie and E at Sundance,
  
• exploring Aspen Grove and Cascade Springs with Nyles and co.,
  
• photographing Provo Canyon on my own,
  
• The Proposal and Beto's with Bryan,
  
• Julie and Julia with Joshuardo,
  
• Fifth Water hot springs with some of the guys,
  
• Autumn Symphony by the Orchestra at Temple Square with Javier and Adelia...

And I realized: in my unemployment, my days may seem a lot less eventful in the moment than they do when I look back on them...

Today's Harvest

A few more big'ns, and I'm making homemade spaghetti sauce. One of my sweet basil plants survived the drought of negligence enough that it's now regrowing some leaves, so I'm hoping I can use it, too.

The Job Hunt

I'm finally getting back to it: the hunt for a job. I hate job-hunting, but I'm trying to convince myself it's a fun game, like solving a really complex puzzle. It's not working.

I've been checking Craig's List for all kinds of jobs in various places, especially admin and food/service/hospitality. I've been checking in on some of the companies I'd like to work for. I'm finding some leads. And I'll be looking at Utah Jobs today. I guess it's not so bad.

In the process, though, I'm using some cost-of-living comparison calculators, and it's interesting to see how they compare and what they say. For example, the job listings I've found in Lubbock pay far better than the listings in Salt Lake and Provo, and the cost of living is supposedly similar to or lower than that of Salt Lake/Provo, yet at least one calculator says I'd experience a drop in disposable income because it says the average salary is lower. Maybe there's less of a gap between salaried and wage-earning positions? I dunno. But it's interesting, anyway.

Calculators:

• Salary.com
  
• CNN Money
  
• Bankrate.com

Backyard Photoshoot

While picking tomatoes in the back yard, I thought the handful looked really cool, with the yellow and red tomatoes of three varieties all intermingled, so I grabbed my camera, and thus began my self-challenge of finding photo ops in the back yard: anything interesting or photo-worthy that I might overlook when going about daily business. I went a little crazy, but it's always fun to see what I can find, and it's nice to capture some details from a certain time, and it's a fun way to practice different shutter speeds, lenses, apertures, angles, lighting, keeping an eye out for color and texture, blah blah blah.

I realize that these are mostly not especially "marketable" photos, and it'd add energy and interest to have people using or interacting with what's pictured, but there's something I like about the idea of all the interest, beauty, and human influence found in one back yard whether or not anyone is appreciating or noticing it.





Heh, I had to smile while taking this one. Tomato still life.


Stalk of corn, or as I like to call it: Muppet plant.

























I call this one "survivor", because it shows my one plant which survived the terrible drought (AKA me forgetting to water my herb garden for most of a week): the strawberries.


This one is a picture of "Voleville", the compost pile.

Voting for a Farmer's Market

I had to do it. Having recently been to Moscow's farmer's market, I had to vote for it as my favorite when I saw a web site soliciting votes for favorite farmer's markets. I haven't been to dozens or anything, but I've been to a few, and so far, it's still my favorite. They ask for comments when you vote, and I wrote the following:

It takes place in the heart of town, by Friendship Square, and is a true farmer's market, where growers bring their own high-quality crops and products and sell them at affordable prices, a clear reminder of the foundation the region has been built upon. Add on top of that culinary fare from all around the world, local organizations, local talent in the form of photography, crafts, woodwork, music, and others, and you've got an energetically upbeat celebration of local industry and art around which the relatively (for a small town in Idaho) diverse community comes together. I may be biased, being from Moscow, but I've been to a few farmer's markets around the nation and in a couple of other countries, and there's just something unmatched about the sense of open-armed grassroots community characterized by Moscow's farmer's market.

I'll let you know when I experience more farmer's markets that make Moscow's seem less unique, and feel free to share if you know of some good ones. I actually haven't been to one here in Utah yet. Maybe I'll have to add that to my plans for the next couple of weeks.

Zen and Bison and Other Distractions

It's been a full week. Read on for a week in the life of me.


Yellowstone and Pocatello

Last Wednesday, I drove up to Idaho Falls, where I stayed at the parentals' place, then off to Yellowstone with Maw the next morning. The day started off weak. It took an hour to get from the park entrance past the bald eagles' nest because there's no place to pull over along that road, so people just stopped right on the road to snap photos of the big scruffy birds. Since we were getting nowhere fast anyway, we slowed down enough to grab a shot. As we worked our way into the park, the animal sightings were sparse, but as the day progressed, we found more and more. A grizzly sleeping on the mountainside, bison here and there, some elk, hunting osprey, pelicans in the distance, a black bear in a green meadow, pronghorn leaping across a field, coyote crossing the street, awkwardly adolescent-looking mule deer, baby elk along the river...it turned out to be a good day, safari-wise. The scenery was beautiful, too. I especially liked the waterfalls and the brushed metal trees on Mt Washburn.

By about 10:00 pm, we were passing Rexburg and decided to stop in for a temple photo shoot, then again in Idaho Falls. We got home around...11:15? The next morning, we drove down to Pocatello, where I tried to fix my computer while Maw edited her photos from the trip. My computer has been refusing to turn on lately, and it finally decided not to turn on for good. Fried motherboard, it appears. My laptop is way past warranty, but this happened to me last year when it was still in warranty, so I called to see if maybe just the motherboard they'd put in was somehow under warranty. They said I'm in luck because this machine is part of an "enhancement program" (AKA "we sold you a P.O.S. and want to avoid lawsuits and losing customers"), so I'm sending my laptop in again for a free replacement, hopefully with a better version. We then played some Wii and headed to Senang for lunch.


Overnighter in Layton

Then it was off to a friend's house in Layton for a get-together, complete with a new-to-me card game called "Cover Your Assets" (it was fun; I wanna play it again), watching Rat Race (which I think is always good for some laughs), and hot tubbing until the sun came up. That's right. Until the sun came up. Hey, I may be getting old, but every once in a while, I have to do something totally stupid and pointless. Except it wasn't pointless. There was some good conversation, I got to know some peops, and it's rarely pointless, in my opinion, to watch a sunrise. After that, I slept on the hammock on the lower deck after falling asleep while finishing Alex & Me. I'd love to have a house like this. Spacious, open rooms, two-level deck with hot tub, hammock, and soft deck furniture, beautiful view over the sea of treetops, 3/4 acre with an almost secluded feel like you get in densely vegetated Seattle suburbs...nice.

That afternoon, I drove on down to Sugar House Park to take a nap in the grass, and there I finally finished Alex & Me. Such a good read for someone like me who's been so interested in Alex and in Dr. Pepperburg's research for so long.


Zen and Flooring

Then I worked out at the gym and grabbed some dinner and headed over to Michael's house, where we chatted with another friend of his before driving around the avenues looking for good hiking trails to explore. We found a couple in the little canyon leading down to Memory Grove Park, but it was late, so we opted to save the actual hiking for another time.

The next morning, we went to a Zen Center just down the street from Michael's place and sat in on a lecture of sorts about the unity of human and being as a whole "human being", the oneness of all things, extinguishing dissatisfaction to experience "pure being" (which made me grin as I thought of "the ball thing" [watch I Heart Huckabees if you don't know what I'm talking about, but I don't know what it's like unedited, so borrow my edited copy if you want]). I made some observations. Every belief system, philosophy, or way of life draws people thirsty for meaning or fulfillment in their lives. It draws people who feel a lack and want to fill it. It draws people who yearn for meaning, some of whom yearn to belong to such an extent that they will put on an obviously affected demeanor, like the one who squints while facing the ceiling and showing how enlightened they're becoming, or the LDS person at the pulpit with a whispery, affected church voice that testifies to the spiritual power of what they're imparting. *yawn* Thankfully, such actors are usually the minority, in my experience. Belief systems and philosophies also draw weirdos. But there were many very "normal"-seeming people there as well. And I took some notes from the discussion and enjoyed my first encounter with meditation in this form.

I must say, when the speaker would go off about how we feel lacking, we feel something's missing, we want to be what we're not, want more money, more prestige, more beauty...people would nod and throw in comments about how they feel deeply, deeply unsatisfied with their lives and are searching to fill that void, I thought, "I think I know the feeling, but I don't feel that way. I feel like I've come to a point where I accept things as they are even while looking forward to what things may become without feeling deeply amiss that they haven't happened yet or may not happen." Obviously, that only goes so far, and I feel far from perfect, and I have stress in my life, but I just didn't identify very much with what people seemed to be saying, and there could be any of a number of explanations for my lack of identification. And as I said regarding one woman's statement that in a state of enlightenment, she regards her life as perfect, and even her mistakes are "perfect", I either disagree or I lack the framework to understand what she really meant by that. It's hard to tell sometimes, eh?

Anyway, I headed over to Tooele to help Andrew install some flooring in his dance studio, which went slowly. About an hour per foot. Yeesh. But hey, good music, good company, and lots of sugary candy made the time fly by. The next day, my wrist was super cramped from all the mallet-pounding I'd done.

Then it was back to Provo, not skipping a couple of photo ops along the way, to have dinner with the gang and a movie at Patrick's. We watched Ghost World, which was well done in many ways but was ultimately forgettable and a bit wandering for my taste. I don't recommend it, but maybe I just don't identify with it the way I'm supposed to. Apparently I'm missing something because the critics seem to love this movie. Meh.


Logan Excursion

Monday, I took care of some errands and headed up to Logan for a get-together there. Good food, good conversation, lots of fun people, and a hammock. What more could you ask for? Then we went to a friend's house to watch Slumdog Millionaire on the front lawn (it was too hot in the house). I was privileged to see the highly elusive albino-on-a-Segway heading out for his nightly excursion, along with various shady characters out and about after midnight in Logan.

Tuesday morning, still in Logan, I drove around and explored a bit, even going up the canyon a ways to take a summer picture of the waterfall I shot last Autumn, to kill some time before meeting up with Danwick and with Kregg, Isabella, and kids at The Olive Garden for lunch. It had been 5 years or so since I'd last seen my old roomie, so that was a trip.


Games and Concert in Salt Lake

About three hours later, I was on my way back to Salt Lake, where I met up with Michael and others to play another new-to-me game called Acquire, which I also enjoyed and would like to play again. ...I won, FYI.

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon loitering and becoming familiar with my new phone then headed, with Brittany, to Salt Lake to see Josh Ritter at the Urban Lounge. The opening act, Langhorne Slim was not good...and by that, I mean really, really bad. Borderline awful terrible. I mean, had they acted less affected and drugged up, it might've been tolerable, and I did enjoy one song (Diamonds and Gold), but after trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, I decided they were too much of a sideshow for my taste, not musical enough, not dynamic, and too obnoxiously screeching. I felt like my ears were being assaulted. During one drum solo, I stood there waiting for something to happen, and they just started playing again, and I stood there thinking, "nothing happened...where was the solo?" Josh Ritter, in contrast, was musical, dynamic, versatile, and really fun to watch and listen to. Their performance exceeded my expectations by a lot. I didn't have many expectations, but whatever they were, they were blown away. Good ol' Moscow, Idaho boy making out quite nicely for himself. His lyrics and easy demeanor were so approachable it felt like he was singing to a group of friends, yet he carried such energy that he had people dancing and moving with ease. He obviously enjoyed performing and had fun with the audience. Great show.


Unproductive Citizen

So now I'm loitering more, blogging, reading National Geographic online and blogs and Wikipedia articles about Cambodia (a girl at Michael's game night served a Cambodian-speaking mission, and I realized how very little I know about Cambodia, so I got curious), and getting ready to head out for a workout and maybe up to Salt Lake for the free Twilight Concert series...then maybe watching Harry Potter tonight or tomorrow? Maybe hit the Salt Lake Pioneer Day parade tomorrow morning. Then off to Vegas this weekend to celebrate Nicole's b-day with her and Anne...

...then maybe I'll find a job. Aw crap. A job. What an ordeal. And what a bummer, needing money to do the things I want to do but needing to use all the time I would spend doing those things to make the money I need. C'est la vie. Distractions, distractions...

Tooele to Lehi

Driving back to Provo from Tooele, via the Lehi route through the mountains rather than north around the mountains via Salt Lake, I saw an old, dilapidated structure in a field, with the sun breaking through clouds behind it.



I pulled off the road onto the rugged gravel driveway towards the building. It had just sprinkled, and the clouds were looking stormy, and I always like the colors that are brought out in such conditions.



There's just something about crusty old buildings falling apart in a field: they kinda beg to be photographed holding on to years gone by, sort of like the wise face of an old-timer who saw a world very different from the one we live in now. But then...some of these structures aren't as much ancient as not built to weather decades, but either way, once in a while, the charm of such a parallelogram structure just calls out to me.







Farther down the highway, I had to snap a shot of a lone tree in the golden glow of the sunset with stormy clouds behind it. Unfortunately, the lightning was sparse, and I wasn't lucky enough to snap a shot during a strike, and I couldn't dial down the settings enough to leave the shutter open long. Isn't there some kind of filter you can put on a lens to help out with that?