Jeremy and Alexandria

I'm going to be a good girl...

2011-01-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

And wear my glasses. Even though the eye doctor said I didn't have to. Be proud of me.

Chores

2010-11-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

For Halloween this year we:

*Carved this pumpkin (it's a little boy in bed

getting scared by a monster eye--

can you tell?):

*Tortured this beloved dog:

*See? She LOVES me ;)

*And bought these:

For ZUMBA!!! (and Jeremy)

Want to Try a Class?

2010-10-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Me+Lindsey Taylor=ZUMBA certified

New House Pictures

2010-07-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

So, I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera to the computer.
I present, the new apartment...in all its glory...

actually, since there are many pictures I'll be lazy and just give you a link to the pictures.

one moment, here it is: http://picasaweb.google.com/jeremy313/NewApartmentAndOtherPicturesOnTheCameraAtTheSameTime?authkey=Gv1sRgCP26r63ckemMTA#
(for some extra fun, count how many pictures Bridget managed to show up in. She is continually around every corner. )

Something else we thought was worth mentioning. So last week, we went to TacoTime. I had never been before and thought it was something like Del Taco or Taco Bell. I walked in and saw that their burritos cost 3 times as much as TB and thought that was weird. Anyway we ordered and their food was ACTUALLY good. Surprising even. So, I just wanted to give the Draper/Sandy TacoTime a shout out for having edible food. It was really fresh and tasty.

We took Bridget to the fireworks in Sandy and she behaved very well in a crowd of thousands. She wasn't spooked by the fireworks either. Perhaps she was just distracted by the roasted chicken bones she was permitted to pick clean after I had picked as much as I could.

I have been promoted from Order Picker to Production Order Picker Team Lead and will soon be hired on as a full-time employee rather than just a full-time temp. It is quite a promotion as my title gained three whole words and I now have underlings. :) My supervisor told me that as an Integra-Core employee I would have "bennies."

"What are bennies" I asked, intrigued.

"Benefits, you know, so you can start a family." he said with a wry grin.

"Oh, yeah, I guess its about time for that, right?" I joked.

"Yes...it is." he responded as he walked away.

Until later,

More Buggy Fun

2010-06-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

We ran out of gas. But it was fun anyway!

Jeremy

Ethan's Sweet Remote Control Tank

2010-05-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ethan, a 13-year-old boy Alexandria and I mentor, designed a tank. We were looking for a project to keep us busy without having to find a new activity each week. With his input and help, I built this tank for him. It uses a tethered remote for control and weighs a little over 42 lbs. It is welded from 1/8" steel plate and is very robust. It literally shakes the ground when on concrete. I finished the mechanical part last week and on Saturday we painted it. Then I finished the wiring. By that time the batteries were running low, so I charged it for a day. These batteries are massive compared to most RC batteries and I am trying to charge them with a 330 mA wall adapter. Its working, but slowly. A car battery charger would work better. As heavy as it is, it definitely moves. Check it out!

The batteries and motors

Ethan's dad joined us to paint it.

If you want to see other big stuff I've made:

I got a DOG!!!

2010-05-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

So...

Yesterday I went to Petco (it was actually Petsmart) in Orem because that is what I do when I'm craving animals. Because it was not Saturday, I did not expect there to be dogs at the store (C.A.W.S brings in dogs to have adoptions on Saturdays and I go...a lot). My plan was to hold some cats and maybe a few rodents, then migrate to Ross and think about buying a purse suitable to hold both work stuff and clothing for a trip to the gym on my way home. However, I got distracted when I fell in LOVE with this:

I began playing with her and she was PERFECT!!! She's mid-sized, energetic, and about 8 months old. She's great with other dogs. Also, the animal shelter she came from puts dogs down...a lot. They informed me that I couldn't just wait 3 months if I wanted her alive and mine. I called Jeremy and he came by to see. I told him of my plan along with the details of where I would have her stay...us not being allowed dogs in our apartment and all...and he responded with, "I'm going to leave. Make a good decision." I informed him that if he left, I was buying the dog. He said "I know," and that was that.

We have a dog!!!

Her name is Bridget. She is currently staying in Jeremy's wonderfully kind grandparents' backyard with their two other dogs. She is fitting in just perfectly and loves having friends. George, a 6-year-old male dog who turned out not to be neutered, loves having her there. Maybe too much... But it's working out.

I took her today to get her rabies vaccination and to get her licensed. She was great in the car and stayed and waited for me when I ran a few errands later on. She didn't destroy anything and was super excited to see me when I came back. I took her on a run/walk afterward. I bought a "gentle leader" for training and walking purposes, but she really doesn't pull. She still has lots of command-learning to do, but we love her already.

The owner came by and popped his head in today randomly. He's never done that. Of course, it was when I was in the shower and Jeremy was holding the dog. We're not ALLOWED to have dogs. He thought our apartment was the vacant one, as two couples have just moved out of our building, and he wanted to fix the refrigerator (which isn't broken...). WHOOPS! I called him after I was done cleansing myself and explained that Bridget wasn't actually living here. He said that was perfectly fine that she had temporarily visited and thanked me for letting him know. So we're good.

To further our adventure, we introduced Bridget to the rats. They sniffed each other curiously and were just fine. Flower didn't even get scared. Later on we introduced her to Sam and Michelle. They didn't get scared either, but Michelle did get very excited :) It made me happy.

I think she will be a great dog for our family. We're both super excited and very grateful to the Dison grandparents for taking care of our baby for a few months. I'll be glad when we move someplace we can actually have her.

Just in case you needed proof:

Alexandria + Dog = Happy

also...

Happy Alexandria = Happy Jeremy = Happy Family

Gradieachion

2010-04-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

First of all dear lovely blog-reader friends, I realized I have been a silly person for the last few months. I enabled comment moderation but thought I had set it up to e-mail me when someone commented on our blog. Therefore, for the past 4 posts I simply figured no one loved me. I just found out that people actually HAD been commenting today...and published them. Let's just say I'm taking that little feature off and thank you so much for reading/commenting! Yay. People do love us after all!!! :)

Second of all, I thought it was worth mentioning that my lover and I finished college. Look how cute we are!!!

It was super fun. Both of our families came. Activities consisted of dinners, two lovely beautiful bike rides with my parents and I, going to the graduation ceremonies (duh), a tumbling birthday party for Caitlin, hanging out at our apartment, RUNNING A HALF MARATHON, and more. I must say that racing through the Thanksgiving Point tulip gardens, golf course, and past a bunch of moo-ing cows was beautiful and wonderful. The weather was exactly perfect, and I got a free stretch/massage at the end.

Jeremy loves me. He bought me a scooter! Isn't she beautiful!?!?! It's a blue 2006 Yamaha Vino 125cc. I LOVE it and I'm even legal driving a motorcycle now. I never thought that would happen. When we first got married I promised Jeremy that he would never own a motorcycle due to their dangerosity. Now I can't really talk. I expect he'll have one in a few months.

So we're done. I start my job next Monday. Jeremy finds out next month whether he gets into Washington Medical School this year or needs to reapply next year and makes a job decision accordingly. And it's summer!

Look at my rat in the flowers. Even she's excited.

Done

2010-04-16T09:50:00.001-07:00

I am done done done done done done done with finals and BYU. Yay. Very exciting. What will I do at work with no more homework? :) Jeremy is five finals and therefore five days away. Double yay. My best friend Erin comes to visit me starting tonight. Triple yay. 2nd to last day at Nestle...!

Happy April Fool's Day

2010-04-01T08:04:00.001-07:00

I'm PREGNANT!!! I'm so excited. We just found out on Monday. It will be the first grandchild for both of our parents. Adrienne, my sister, and my parents are thrilled. We were going to call Jeremy's parents to tell them the news, but we realized they were on a cruise out of the country and therefore without cell service...~~so we figured that we'd just announce it this way since we know they read our blog. Let's just say I'm expecting a few phone calls. Maybe if it's a girl we'll name her Camila...haha.~~ Too bad our health insurance through BYU expires April 26th thanks to graduation! Lol. Something will work out though. It always does.

In other great news I had a job interview for Quality Control Manager at VMI Nutrition on Tuesday that I feel went really well. I'm hoping to get it! I should find out in two weeks. I feel like this will be a better deal for us than Nestle anyway, even though I was pretty bummed about missing that opportunity. We could move to SLC and get a pre-trained year old lab puppy, and Jeremy could work doing the same research that he's been doing for his professor. Maybe we could even end up with a DISHWASHER or WASHER AND DRYER!!! I'm really excited about the prospect of working for them if they choose to offer me the job. I hope they do. They even offer DENTAL and 401K matching up to 4%. Even if I only end up putting a few thousand in, I have over 40 years until we will need it and by then it could be a LOT more. Of course, we are still hoping that Jeremy gets into St. Louis. Either way, I'm sure what is supposed to happen will and I'm looking forward to May when we have a better idea of what that is. I must say that the waiting game really sucks! I'm happy though that at least things are moving forward, going well, and that we are almost done with school :) ~~Just think. In 9 months we could be real people!~~

Run Like a Girl

2010-03-20T17:57:00.001-07:00

Dorky Things I Want for My Birthday

2010-03-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

1) A leash for the dog I am going to run with soon (i.e. when I get a dog). I would of course want purple or black. You may click on the picture to link to the site if you're curious. That way I can look like a dork but still at least get to use my arms!

2) HUGE containers to store flour and sugar and such. Like the containers Barbie has.

3) Good makeup. Nice makeup. Including concealer, foundation and eyeshadow. I have no idea where to start. I buy the cheapest stuff I can find at the grocery store. It's just not doing it for me anymore.

4) THIS sexy running skirt in fuschia with THIS matching shirt of course :) I'd go medium.

5) A chocolate lab/pointer mix like this one of course. Yes, I know that's not possible JUST yet. In 3 months maybe, though?

I think that's enough fantasizing for one day.

I feel like I've found myself again

2010-03-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

I went running today and listened to the number one song that gets me high. Winters leave me feeling like I'm drowning. That feeling of anger and hopelessness was particularly exacerbated this past week and weekend. After an amazing workout, a little sun, and a little thinking, I finally feel better.

I saw the woman I want to be in 5 years as I floated back down the trails of melting snow at Rock Canyon. She was a blond hiker in shining pigtails--athletic and cute dressed in black flared hiking pants and with a hat pulled over her braids. In front of her were two of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen. She let me pet them and further feed my hunger for a dog. One was a full grown Alaskan husky. But her puppy--oh her puppy!--was bred part wolf part Siberian husky. That would be my dream. To partially own a wolf. However, that dream does not fit well with my other dream to never live in a climate cold enough that a dog like that would be happy. A retriever will have to do.

Today I will sign up to run through fields of tulips with my husband for (hopefully) 20 minutes less than two hours on April 24. I sure hope it's sunny that day. It will be our first race as official graduates of Brigham Young University. A very long victory lap. Looking forward to it.

I am almost a real person now!

2010-02-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am going to start working full time for Nestle next week! (It's the Stouffer's plant in Springville.) I'm excited and very nervous about getting it all done with school, my need for sleep, and my desire to exercise. It's crazy though! A REAL job...like...the kind that requires the degree I ALMOST have :)

Why are you so abhorred, my little friend?

2010-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

My dad used to say that squirrels were nothing more than glorified rats with furry tails. I used to see that as an insult to squirrels. I now see it as a compliment to rats. I really think that people would not hate my little rodents so if their tails didn't look like snakes. Maybe I should glue a few feathers on and solve the problem.

To be fair, not everyone loves squirrels. My father once knew an old lady in Moscow who consulted him for legal advice on how she could kill the squirrels in her attic without getting in trouble. She HATED them. At the same time, he learned of another man in town who liked to eat squirrels. There was quite some consideration of hooking the pair up--but it never did happen. Sad.

Moral of the story: If you aren't a crazy old lady with squirrels in your attic (which I do admit would be upsetting) and happen to LIKE squirrels yet you find yourself at odds with rats, you should seriously consider the reasons for this foible of yours and see if you can alter your perception. If it takes a few tail feathers, so be it.

My other blog

2010-01-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

I've posted several write-ups of the buggy project on my other blog. I write them there and then post them on a builder's forum Sam and I participate in called minibuggy.net. The blog is http://ttgracing.blogspot.com.
The writeups are somewhat long, but If you've read any of my posts here, you'll know that when I write, I tend to have a lot to say.

Anyway, this short week has been pretty busy. I've been up early all week and have been in the research lab at 8:00 am a couple of times. Dr. Woodbury asked me to be a team leader so I've been in and out of the lab a lot. I enjoy it though. Also, I've been working on three presentations. Each class I'm in has either a grant proposal or review paper at the end of the semester so they have us doing paper presentations or writeup every couple weeks. Today I got up at 6:00 to write a literature summary on the links between microcephaly and human brain evolution. Tommorrow I have a 40 min group presentation on the molecular biology method of immunoprecipitation and a research paper that employs it. After that's done I have a solo 20 minute presentation in lab meeting about the dynamic nature of lipid-bound synaptobrevin. Thats three paper review in less than that many days. By the way, I think my major is really, really cool. This last semester will be a lot of work, but now I can see how it all comes together. I like that.

This is what we study in the lab. Right now, our team grows the proteins we need in e. coli colonies. Soon we're getting a new circular dichroism machine and I'll be splitting my time with that and the regular team stuff.

Playing with 3D pictures

2010-01-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

We recently went an saw Avatar in 3D. It was a really cool experience. You can make 3D images your self for free. I had come across stereoscopic 3D photos before and wanted to try it myself. Basically, you snap the same photo twice sliding the camera an inch or two to the right after the first picture. Then you place them side by side and correct and alignment issues. To view it in 3D, cross your eyes until the two pictures merge together and the imaginary third photo comes into focus. I can do this fairly easily, but others may struggle with it. It may help after you have isolated the third photo to place your hands about 5-6 inches from your face to block the original two images leaving only the third 3D image in view. Anyway, I think it turned out alright. I didn't play with the photos much so they're not the best quality. This is the bike I got last April. It has almost 400 miles on it. I hope to put 500 on it in the year I've had it. As I get some better 3D photos I'll keep posting them if people think they are cool. This is my first shot at it.

I made it small to fit on this narrow blog frame. Clicking on the picture will link to the larger picture in a different window. It may help you concentrate better.

It is important that you do not use the flash for both photos. For best results put your camera in manual mode, so the exposure and settings to not change between each shot. For tips you do this your self visit this webpage:
http://www.neilcreek.com/blog/2008/03/21/how-to-take-3d-photos/

I hope it works for you.
remember:
1. Click to get the larger picture

2. Cross your eyes (maybe stare at your finger a few inches in front or your face. The third photo will appear but will be out of focus. Then try to focus on the image with out uncrossing your eyes. This may be uncomfortable, but I assure you it won't cause any lasting damage. You may need to move towards or away from the screed to get it right)

3. Focus on the third apparition between the two original photos. Don't leave the mouse cursor on either of the images, that will be very distracting. It should pop, and you will see very distinct layers in the photo(s). It doesn't look quite natural, but it is cool.

4. If needed, move both hands a few inches in front of your face, to isolate the middle image.

5. Enjoy the scenery of our apartment. Try making one yourself. Its cool.

Jeremy

(obviously, I am focusing my energies on my classes for my last semester right...?)

Flower--San Francisco Botanical Garden

2010-01-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

Orange Coat for Christmas

2010-01-02T12:10:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T10:05:00.000-08:00

Due to not being invited to anyone's house, we decided to have our own Thanksgiving. I was stubborn for quite awhile in claiming that I would NOT make it. The plan was just to go out to eat. However, I could see from Jeremy's sad pleading eyes that really he wanted the full blown meal. Just kidding. His eyes weren't that sad. But I could tell that secretly he wanted me to remove the neck, liver, lungs and heart from a dead plucked bird and place it in the oven for hours on end, and possibly even make some other food to eat as we devoured the poor creature. When I succumbed to his silent yearnings, he brainstormed the other food items he desired to consume. Off we went to the store, followed by Jeremy's promises to help me cook the meal. I didn't believe he really would--but he did and did a wonderful job on roasting our bird friend!

We entered Smiths with the plan to only buy a tiny bird. We found a lovely boneless turkey roast for $12...but sitting right next to it was a 14-pound turkey for $6. With the full realization that turkey sandwich leftovers are the best part, we picked the latter.

My mom sent me cookies.

It was fun. We really enjoyed running alone the shoreline trail in the morning (translation: I was really happy I managed to get Jeremy to run on yet another holiday with me). We didn't put the turkey in until 1:00--at which point my family in Moscow was already eating. But it worked out for us. Candlelit with a centerpiece and all. I am very glad we finally had a holiday by ourselves that we actually did something for. Sooner or later we're going to have to officially think of ourselves as a "real" family, and this was a good place to start. Another couple joined us for pie later on.

The next day I got to ride in the buggy for the first time! I was impressed that it didn't officially break this time. I picked the right day to come :) I got to go on a lovely mountain bike ride on the trails as well, beat the heck out of a tree rather than a puppy, and even drove the buggy myself. I was super proud of myself for not stalling it because I CAN'T DRIVE A STICK!!! I got to play with a puppy. I like dogs. A lot. Although this dog was frankly the most boring puppy I had ever met in my life, and I will not be buying a dachshund. Even though I called our apartment owners to try to talk them into letting me have a puppy last week. And even though I asked Jeremy if we could move over Christmas into an apartment that WOULD let us have one...going so far as to look at specific apartments. It would have to be a good dog to be worth it, not a tiny boring wimpy dog. Either way, Jere said no and so did the owners.

So that was a fun learning experience. I had another fun learning experience last night when I learned that I should not donate blood at work. Or maybe ever...but that's okay. It was good to try it once. It's actually a rather cool process. I should have picked a blood drive with a t-shirt though, just for proof in case I never give it another chance. I also learned that I will NOT be going to grad school next year. Bummer. I'll figure something else out. Maybe I'll work. What an idea!

Second Outing at 5 Mile Pass

2009-11-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

Today we took out second outing with the Ninja 750 powered buggy. Not so much drama this time which is good. The new axle and shocks worked really smoothly.

Sam and Michelle taking off:

The buggy:

From Buggy Build 2.0

Jeremy

-the 720p videos will be up shortly as well. You can see the HD cam mounted on the rear roll bar.

Satisfy the Craving

2009-11-07T19:32:00.001-08:00

Today I made "Better than Sex" cake even better.
PROOF:

Betty Crocker titles their website's recipe "Better Than Almost Anything Cake." Maybe they don't agree with the standard viewpoint...makes me think they've probably never tried it. It was AMAZING. So rich I couldn't even finish my piece. Crazy! Typically the cake starts with a box cake, but instead I used my best-ever made-from-scratch chocolate cake recipe and topped it with homemade hot fudge sauce rather than the canned stuff. Yum yum yum. If you live nearby, we still have plenty. Stop by for a piece. We're willing to spread the love ;)

Also, I wanted to mention that it's been quite beautiful here lately and I'm loving it. I hope winter never comes. I could die happy going through the rest of my life and never seeing snow again, I think. Speaking of dying, I wanted to mention that I love cemeteries. Love them. I've been thinking about that lately. The Provo cemetery is one of my favorite places to run, but I hadn't been there in a long time because you can't go there at night (I guess I should specify that I only like cemeteries during the DAY--they creep me out in the dark because I am one of the most paranoid and easily scared people you will ever meet) and recently it's been dark by the time we've been getting up to go running in the morning. However, I got the chance again one afternoon a week ago or so and remembered my previous sentiments.

I think I like them so much mainly because my father does. I remember walking through a particularly beautiful one once--full of chirping birds and nests full of eggs and flowers and trees and sunlight--and having him tell me how peaceful he feels they are. I totally agree. It's a sad peaceful feeling, but comforting nonetheless. Knowing that they are happy now. That they have gone on to a better place. I especially love when there are interesting tombstones, or when there are pictures of loved ones or temples on the carefully carved granite. I just think that they're beautiful... And while they might be sad for some, they provide a way of connecting and remembering those that have passed on. My father always said he wanted to be buried in a sack and have a tree planted on his head. I think that would be nice. I would like to become a part of the earth again someday. I think it's ridiculous that we try to preserve our dead useless bodies for so long. If they're not helping anyone (organ transplants, cadavers, etc) they might as well become part of the living entity that we live within once more. The only reason tombstones are good is to serve as a memorial for those of us that are still here. But if you really think about it, couldn't nature do the same so much better?

Jeremy and I have realized that we are both looking forward to moving on to the next stage of our lives. For him, that should be Medical School. For me, who knows what is in store? I am applying for grad school, but med school takes precedence. So maybe my sought-after degree. Maybe a job. Certainly a dog. I would love to also have a cat. With luck, possibly even two bedrooms.

Also, I like songs with "happy chords." I suggest you all go listen to Michael Franti & Spearhead sing "Say Hey."

Five Mile Pass, UT Buggy Test Ride

2009-10-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

First Interview

2009-09-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

I just bought a plane ticket to go to St. Louis for an interview on Nov 3 at Washington University Medical School. Cool. Its my first (of hopefully many) interviews to get into med school. May it prove fruitful.

Jeremy

Why Baby Humans Make the Worst Pets

2009-09-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Baby humans are not very furry.
They cry, and their cries are not as cute or pleasant as those of other mammals.
Every other pet you can simply go out and buy. You have lots of options to choose from. To get a baby human, you have to GROW it yourself. In fact, it takes two people to initiate growth of a baby human. You have to wait nine months until it is done growing. During that time they like to punch and claw at your insides. You even have to pay someone to supervise getting the baby human out of your body. Apparently it hurts. You only get one choice of which one is yours. It tends to look like you. If you're ugly, this might be a problem.
If you don't want to grow your own baby human, it is very expensive. Lots of people and lots of laws get involved.
Baby humans take several years to learn to go to the bathroom in the correct manner. Puppies and kittens and even rats can be taught in a matter of weeks. Baby humans require a sack strapped to their private parts, so they can poop and pee it it and get it smeared all over themselves only to have you clean it up, throw away the sack, and put a new one on.
Baby humans require clothing. Usually.
Baby humans require expensive protective equipment, such as car seats and strollers rather than leashes. Some people choose to leash up baby humans, but it is necessary that they first must be able to walk. This business of learning to walk can take a baby human up to a year.
Baby human beds tend to be more expensive than dog beds, and take up less space. Also, baby humans cannot get into their bed by themselves.
You cannot leave a baby human at home alone.
Baby humans do not sleep through the night. Therefore, when you have one, neither do you.
Baby humans cannot automatically swim. Or breathe underwater.
Baby humans are picky about food. At first they like to suck it out of you. Later they like to make a mess when you feed it to them. If they don't like it, they won't eat it. They are not okay with eating the same thing every day.
The better-behaved your baby human is, the better a person people think you are. This can be very stressful if you have a misbehaving baby human.

I want a puppy.

Video of Buggy

2009-09-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Resistance - Muse

2009-09-15T19:34:00.001-07:00

I had to stop studying for an hour and a half today so I could dedicate all my attention to listen to Muse's new album The Resistance I bought today.

It was awesome.

Jeremy

Buggy Stuff Again

2009-09-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

So last week Sam and I went to the shop for a few hours after work. We were able to finish the wiring and finish welding the frame. There were still a few leaky hoses to deal with. Tonight, we changed the spark plugs, cleaned/fixed the carbs, refitted the coolant lines, and improved the fuel line. We cranked the engine over and nothing happened. We knew we had spark, nothing was leaking so we couldn't figure it out. We found a wire dangling when it shouldn't have been and plugged it back in. This time it started. It ran on all cylinders and started up quickly. It sounds a little rough still because we need to adjust the exhaust a bit. Otherwise, everything is great. So that feels good. Every thing else is pretty minor, like putting the racing harnesses and the floor in.

It should be drivable soon.

Jeremy

New Haircut

2009-08-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Just to correct, I think it was around 60 pounds of meat. Quite possibly more. Gross. The house still smells AWFUL!!!

I interviewed for another internship today. I think it went well.

Also, this is me:

Mission Beach, CA

2009-08-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 18 Aug 2009, from the balcony of 2735 Ocean Front Walk, near Lifeguard stand #10, minutes before sundown.

We got back from our week-long trip to San Diego. It was really nice and we had a really great time. We stayed on a beach house on the boardwalk behind lifeguard hut #10. We made a trip to Disneyland, but mostly stayed near the beach house eating, napping, watching movies, and playing in the waves. We also had some fun riding my parents scooters illegally. On the way home we stayed overnight at Alexandria's aunt's house in St. George. It was a nice way to break up the drive home.

We got home to discover that the freezer door popped open during our vacation, consequently thawing several pounds of frozen meat. We walked in to an overwhelming and gagging odor of incubating bacteria. It smells awful. It still smells awful. We got home on Sunday at 2:38 PM. We walked in our house at 2:39. We stopped cleaning at 4:35 PM. It involved removing everything from the fridge and freezer. We loaded a three garbage bags with rotten meat and washed the containers of everything else we didn't throw away. All the shelves came out and were scrubbed. Afterward they were liberally coated in Lysol spray. The fridge and freezer were sprayed and scrubbed with Tilex Mold and Mildew. Its basically just bleach. Then we moved the fridge and mopped up the juice on the floor. We then mopped the floor...twice. We opened the windows and ran fans outside all night. We sprayed air freshener and vacuumed everything as well. It still smells. Its really bad. Hopefully it goes away soon. I can't take it much longer. The beach house was musty, but way better than this.
Poppy, we brought the rats with us.
The twin beds we pushed together. We actually liked this set up. Alexandria made her bed. I let mine breathe a little. She also couldn't steal my sheets as she had her own set. Still, our bed at home is so much more comfortable.
Jeremy

Explorer Sport Utility

2009-08-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to test out both the sport and utilitarian value of our new Ford Explorer. New is figurative as it is new to us with over 150k miles. No matter that the AWD is broken and the door handles sometimes need persuasion, for what we paid for it, it was a sweet deal. The AWD transfer case will be swapped out for an 4x4 transfer case from an F-150 in the near future. This will allow 4hi and 4lo for snow and dirt, as well as a urban behaving 2wd all connected with a nice manual shifter. This will solve some of the recurring issues with the AWD system. Anyway, back to this weekend.

First we went camping at Dry Canyon campground in Diamond Fork Canyon. It is a really nice tent-site campground replete with bathrooms and running water. The water of course runs down the creek adjacent to the camp sites. It is only potable (by which I assume that it meets the requirements to be placed in a pot) after filtering it. This gave us a great opportunity to test our the Katydyn water filter Alexandria's parents got us for Christmas. It worked well. Pure mountain spring water bottled at the source. This trip allowed us to test many things besides the truck and the water filter. It was the first time we've been camping together after the time we met on the ward campout. We finally used some of the gifts we got as wedding presents. During the experience we were able to identify other things that we may need as gifts to make camping a more pleasant experience. Below is a picture of the campground

The coordinates of the campground are N 40 04.831' W 111 21.792' as provided by Sam and lead you directly to the bathroom of the campground.

We stayed the night and it was really great. The weather was really nice as the sun was out and the predicted rain did not fall. Due to rain earlier in the week, the humidity was low and the canyon was about 65 F. That night it probably dropped to the 40s. The next morning we got up and ate pop-tarts. We packed up camp and I snapped a few pictures.
We drove up Diamond Fork Road for about a mile and arrived at the Three forks trail head. There were several guys gearing up to take dirt bikes out on another trail. We packed our backpacks with our freshly filtered water and changed into our swimsuits. We started hiking to the Fifth Water Hot springs. It is about a 2.5 mile hike to get to the springs. There are several warnings along the trail advising hikers that nude bathers might be present. There were none, in fact, we saw about five families hiking the trail that morning. The springs are located adjacent to a mountain creek right after a water fall. The springs and a portion of the creek flow into pools to create a nice warm pool. In all there are three hot springs pools along the creek.

You could smell the sulfur on the way up the trail but the springs themselves were quite bearable. We hiked back down the trail and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Alexandria also used this break to apply some deodorant.

After lunch we got in the Explorer and drove about 10 miles to the Wardsworth Trailhead. The first few miles were on a narrow paved road but then we left the pavement for a dirt and gravel road that wound through the mountain between groves of Aspen and Birch trees. Apparently our GPS prefers paved roads as it estimated our arrival time as an hour and a half later. After defying the sound advice of the British lady giving directions several times, I was surprised to learn that the outdated NavTeq maps loaded in the system actually had the off-road trail we used to get to the bike trail. Once the GPS realized that we were stubborn enough to descend the face of the mountain on gravel switchbacks, the arrival time was set for only a few minutes later. We got to the trail head and could smell our brakes. Once we add the 4wd transfer case, we'll be able to put the truck in 4lo and have a controlled descent without toasting the brake pads. We arrived at N 40 11.735' W 111 23.505' Alt=6050' and unloaded our bikes. We intended to bike up the mountain about 3 miles, turn around, and head back down. The ride up for the most part was uneventful, as was the downhill portion back to the car. It was the middle section that turned hairy as our 6-mile ride turned into an 11 mile adventure.

As we neared the top, we met another group of novice bikers who were also riding the trail for the first time. We thought they were experience bikers as each was on an expensive bike, it turned out that they had walked most of their uphill climb. We were about to turn around and head back down the way we came but instead decided to follow them on another trail around the mountain back to the car. It was supposed to be longer but a much more mild downhill ride back to the main road. The owner of all the bikes, and an avid mountain biker of two-years, looked at the map I had brought and decided that we should turn left on an ATV trail to cut across the mountain. Mind you, we were on a clearly blazed trail at the time, but we followed thinking that the biker was somewhat experienced. As we were faster than their group, we went on ahead on the smooth ATV trail. After two miles, we realized that the trail looped back on itself and led nowhere. Now lost and not wanting to retrace our ride up the hill, we found a narrower trail cutting across the ridge with obvious horseshoe prints. The trail was shared by bikers, hikers, and equestrians, so we figured it would lead somewhere good. It did not. The trail dissipated, the bushes overgrew the way, and we scratched ourselves up trying to follow through the bush. I finally decided it was time to turn around when we got to the very end of the ridge and it just dropped off. Judging by the rapid branching of the trail and the abundance of cow poop I suspected that the trail we had followed was carved by a herd of cattle grazing. My suspicions were confirmed as we encountered a puzzled herd of cows on our way back. Although I didn't tell Alexandria, there were times when I had to stop and look for our own tire tracks to get back. She would have freaked out even more if she had known.

The cow trail, perhaps sometimes used by the rancher lead back the other way across the ridge the same way we had come on the ATV trail. There was a stock pond used for the cattle at the place we were going to turn around. We figured that the cattle would most likely go to the pond to drink and that this trail would lead us back there. We followed it and in fact were able to return to pond where we had started our adventure. From there we turned down the trail we came up. In the end, the downhill trail was not that bad. Certainly not bad enough for us to chance taking another way down. Fortunately, the weather stayed cool durning our entire ride and we didn't run out of water. Below is a picture of the proposed trail and the way we actually went. The difference should be clear. We were quite tired by the time we got home and had done all of that in less than 24 hours. It was a fun trip though and we would definitely camp at Dry Canyon again, bike this trail again, and make the hike to the springs again. The off-road adventure may be put on hold as they are planning some road construction soon. I really hope they don't pave the roads up there, as that would be no fun.

Jeremy

Rat Antics

2009-08-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is a video of our rat poppy in our fern narrated with Alexandria's best Nick Jr./Sesame Street Voice.
We still don't know how she got up there.

Application Process

2009-07-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dear people,
So, It has been quite some time since my last post. Summer has been going well for me. I have mostly been working in the welding shop as well as doing research in the Biophysics lab on campus with Dr. Dixon Woodbury. Our research focuses on the proteins of synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Specifically we are working with SNAP-25. SNAP is an abbreviation for soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion attachment protein.
Apart from work and school I have been putting several hours of work into the buggy each week. Currently frame is done, the wheels and suspension are on, the steering is set up, and the engine is in place. Now we just have the small detail stuff to put on. Its the kind of stuff that takes time but doesn't seem very impressive. I hope to have it drivable before fall semester starts. That is possible.
Yesterday my MCAT scores were released. I was happy with them and they should be good enough to get me into my first choices. We would like to go to UC Davis as they have a great Food Science grad program that Alexandria is interested in. My next choice would be UC San Diego. I am going to apply to most of the UC medical schools as I have residency in California. We are interested in completing medical school while using the Navy HPSP (Health Professions Scholarship Program). This program pays for tuition and fees while also providing a monthly stipend. Afterwards, I would serve active duty in the Navy Medical Corps for four years with a rank as a commissioned officer. It will allow us to finish Medical school without debt, which is great but, I also think that serving in the Navy Medical corps will be a truly rewarding experience.
Anyways, thats my current life situation.
Jeremy

Mini Princess Apron

2009-07-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

I discovered last week that DI sells clear grab bags of fabric for $3 each. It made me so excited! I bought 2 bags of fabric and 1 of ribbon and tulle and such and for 10 dollars got tons of decorations and probably 15-20 yards of random fabric to fuel random projects! :) Last night at the movie theater (we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens--very enjoyable) I saw the cutest little girl wearing a tutu made out of tulle tied to an elastic waistband and thought it was the most adorable thing ever and was thinking "I could make that, but I'd have to buy elastic." Today I saw a little 2 year old girl at church today that I really like and decided I would make her a cute dress-up apron with the stuff. It only took about an hour. She was asleep when I brought it over, so I hope she likes it when she wakes up. I'm really enjoying this new hobby. As fun as baking WITHOUT the dishes or the empty calories. Too bad I still bake... ;)

4th of July

2009-07-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

For the 4th we hiked the Y to watch the fireworks. We walked from our house so as to avoid traffic afterward. It was a good idea--it would have taken us FOREVER to get home. The fireworks were okay--some good pictures but a disappointing show overall. The moon, however, was beautiful.

Recent Projects

2009-07-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have been attempting to sew recently :) Gotta love the cow apron. It totally goes with my otto&sons internship.

Link to buggy pics Picasa album

2009-06-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Buggy Build 2.0

Above is a link to the Buggy Build 2.0 picasa album. Yesterday Sam and I put in a record 13 hours and basically finished the front end. All it needs now is the steering components to be put it. It looks really awesome now and gives a perspective of how large it actually is.

Jeremy

I know what I'm doing this summer!

2009-04-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

I found out yesterday that I got the internship at Otto and Sons in West Jordan, Utah. I am very excited. I applied for four internships and interviewed for three (the other company turned not to be able to hire an intern). After being turned down twice and having Jeremy come home to me devastated, I decided that I was much better at getting interviews than jobs and tried not to get my hopes up too high. But it worked out! I start May 4th. It is a quality assurance position, and should be a good experience this summer and hopefully help me get a "real" job someday in the future.

Family and Friends

2009-03-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Jeremy's birthday was last week. I got him a free gourmet burger at Red Robin and we went out to dinner, then we went to Sears where he was able to pick out some tools he wanted before coming home to eat the amazingly rich chocolate cake I made him. The balloons are Reeses Pieces eggs and the dots are M&Ms. His present from me was a new pair of Saucony running shoes :)

On Sunday my family came into town. They actually met us at church. My mom called me to find me and said they were in the building. Everyone was dressed up except for Andrew; he said he didn't believe the family would really go to church so he didn't bring clothes. He showed up in sweat pants and bright green shoes with his typical Andrew hair. The visit was really quite a fun one. My grandma drove up from St. George with three of my cousins, and my cousin Allison who goes to BYU met up with us. I was able to feed my family for lunch and EVERYONE for dinner. It was a LOT of food. Andrew, in particular, eats a lot :) I mean a LOT. We made pasta and salad for lunch and beef tostadas for dinner. Andrew ate about 8 peanut butter sandwiches, two donuts, some cake, and I'm sure more in addition to that. I was amazed that we were able to fit 12 people into our apartment and have enough seating and food for everyone, especially with four teenage boys. Below are some pictures of the experience, including one in particular of Andrew's crazy hair.

During the trip, Austin was able to get all of the clothes he needed for his mission. He goes into the MTC on Tuesday the 25th to learn Spanish and eventually end up in the Leon, Mexico mission. Andrew bought a long board from a pawn shop. We were all able to go out to dinner for Jeremy and my birthday, and we were able to spend quite a bit of time together. I spent a lot of time trying to get ahead on homework so that I actually could spend time with my family, and I think I did a pretty good job. Now I have some grading to catch up on.

I applied for three internships this week. Hopefully I'll be able to get one of them. Two are at Welfare Square in Salt Lake, and one is an internship for Nestle Stouffers in Springville. I would prefer Springville simply to avoid having to drive to Salt Lake. Also, there is a deal in my public speaking class where if we write an editorial and get it published in the Daily Universe, we don't have to take the final for the course. I submitted one on Wednesday evening and it showed up in the paper Friday. Yay!!! On Thursday I went to a gathering where my old roommate opened her mission call. It's still kind of strange to me that I'm turning 21 and definitely not going on a mission. Sometimes I still wonder to myself whether or not I want to go before I realize that I already made that decision. I was able to meet up with all of my roommates from last year except for one, which was really fun. She's going to New York, New York South. Bermuda is part of her mission, which is really quite neat.

Today was a beautiful day. We hiked the Y with our friends Zac and Jessica Weist. I posted some pictures for your enjoyment. Right now I am trying to make homemade Girl Scout Samoas. It is quite the process. Jeremy just finished fixing the tail light on our car. It was burned out and therefore our right blinker was going double time. Quite annoying. I guess that's about it. Look for another post in a few months ;)

Valentines Day

2009-02-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

Tulips for me from Jeremy

Roses from Jeremy's Mom

Cookies from my Mom

Three bouquets on our kitchen table (and our 100-year-old fern)

Jeremy and my gifts to him

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Winter Break

2008-12-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

It's officially winter break for me. I went a little crazy and took all four of my finals yesterday. Actually, I had finished three of them by 10:30 in the morning and then took the last one at 6:00 at night. They all went well despite the rush, though, so that's good. Jeremy won't finish until Thursday night. Friday we'll hopefully leave for Moscow!!! We're planning on driving almost halfway there and staying the night in Mountain Home with my friend Suzanne Burnett, then arriving at our destination on Saturday. I wish we could leave now. I spent my first day with nothing to do being utterly lonely and bored while Jeremy went to work. I work tomorrow and Thursday (and possibly Friday morning) but didn't sign up to work today because I didn't think I'd be done with my finals.

It snowed like crazy this morning and then began to melt off about halfway through the day. I drove to the BYU gym to work out and the roads were SO slick! I was going about 15 mph and was still sliding all over the place.

We had a beautiful sunset not too long ago. I took a picture (as you can see), but as I am not much of a photographer you'll have to believe me that it looked way better in real life. Anyway, that's about all we have going on. I cleaned a lot today which makes me feel better about the house. The only thing I didn't do was organize the bookshelf we threw all of our school stuff on this semester. That corner of the room is getting quite crowded as buggy parts come in for Jeremy. We have seatbelts, random metal objects and two very large plastic seats sitting over there in the corner of our SUPER huge apartment.

I'm super excited to go home for Christmas though. Jeremy gets to be with me too this year, which also makes me very happy. Happy Holidays!

Its getting dark and cold.

2008-11-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since our last post. Alexandria tells me that its my turn. Its been pretty busy here. School is going well despite several projects and assignments. It feels like we have life pretty well managed right now. In the chronological order of events, lets review the past few weeks. On the weekend of the 25 of October we went to California for my sister's wedding. The weather was nice and it felt good to run in shorts and t-shirts. It was a quick but enjoyable trip and the wedding went very well. I am assuming that Rebecca is very happy as I have not heard otherwise as well as the fact that she seemed very happy about the entire process. Quite giddy frankly, which honestly is expected because being married is wonderful. Even with all the pressures of school and work being married now is even better than it was a few months ago. On Sunday it will have been six months that we have been married.

One very exciting thing is that our Grandpa, much thanks to him, brought the broken buggy back to Utah. Sam and I also harvested our tools and brought those back as well. Unfortunately for my parents, most of the good tools were ours. Since then I've been taking measurements and starting on what I can. The front hubs and rotor are set up now after working them on the lathe at work a bit. This also allowed me to get more CAD drawings done. Hopefully soon we can pickup the steel we need and start on the meat of the project. We still have some parts to order but we have almost everything we need to get started.

Next in the order of events was Halloween. We went to a party thrown by some neighbors in our ward. It was really fun and we had a good time. We also went to a not-so-haunted house (I'm not making that up, that is actually what they called it) on campus sponsored by the Civil Engineering department. It was lame in a way only civil engineers can imagine. Afterward, we dropped in on a party by one of Alexandria's coworkers. It was a fun weekend. During the day at school I just wore my work clothes, not really as a costume, but just because I was going to meet Alexandria for lunch at her work and then go straight to mine. For the party I dressed up as a can of tomatoes. Alexandria dressed up as a very cute consistometer, an instrument she uses at work to test the consistency of viscous liquids and suspensions in food products. Her coworkers found it hilariously, while the lay person didn't quite understand, but we won a prize for originality anyway.

Next, came election day. I had already voted two weeks prior by permanent CA voter-by-mail. Obama won and Prop 8 passed by a narrow margin. The protests are still going on. Hopefully, it remains in effect.

It snowed for the first time last week. Not much though. I took a color test online and got a perfect score. Austin, Alexandria's brother is coming to stay with us for a week on thursday. An older lady from Moscow is coming to Utah for a wedding and wanted a second driver. As he is not in school and Moscow's landscaping business has closed its doors for the winter, Austin became the best candidate for the adventure. Its been fun thinking of ways to entertain him while we're at school and work. It should be nice to have him visit. In just a week or two Thanksgiving is here. My parents are coming out. We are all going to go to Coldplay's Viva la Vida concert tour in Salt Lake the saturday before. I am looking forward to having a few days off school and work.

Work is going very well. I like it a lot. I wouldn't choose to do it as a career, but I wouldn't want to do anything else to put myself through school. Its also nice to have a skill that I can fall back on. For this reason Ross is trying to find someone who can certify me. That way, when I apply for a job later in life I can say, I have a B.S. in this, an M.D. from here, and oh yeah...I'm also 4G (all positions, unlimited thickness) certified on E7018 rod. Not that this means anything to a prospective employer, but I think its cool.

And because pictures never look right while I am typing this here they all are.

Crabs

2008-10-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today Jeremy and I got to try fresh raw King Crab for the first time. It tasted like drinking the ocean. Not fishy, but literally like eating a salt-water flavored slug. I didn't like it at all, but that could be because I hate seafood. Jeremy thought it was okay. However, with the product being valued at $75/pound neither of us thought we would be willing to buy it. Why did we eat it then?

I am taking a class called Food Microbiology this semester where we are required to do a project with our lab partners--conducting a literature search, carrying out original research, documenting it, and writing a report on it. There is a company based out of New Orleans (but having facilities throughout the United States) which became the first company in America to use high pressure processing on fresh raw seafood products. The high pressure kills the oysters (or other seafood products) without adding any heat, and therefore they are raw rather than cooked. Typically oysters are kept alive until they are cooked and eaten to ensure that they are fresh. Apparently you can tell that an oyster has gone bad if its shell begins to open. When they first did the process on the oysters they thought they might have ruined them all because all of the shells opened. However, they found that this was not the case; the pressure had merely released all of the oysters so that they slid right out of their shells--reducing the trouble it took to shuck them. They can be kept on ice or refrigerated for a shelf life of 2 weeks or longer.

Last year a group did a project testing the shelf life of the same processing method using lobster. It was successful. My lab partner, Mike, and I are testing how well it works with King Crab. They are expecting a shelf life of 21-30 days. If they can get a shelf life that long it really is a big deal. Typically king crab is caught, cooked, frozen and then cooked again before finally being served at the restaurant. After this much mutilation its taste hardly resembles the real product. Think of doing that to a steak...you wouldn't. The crab actually comes from ships featured on "The Deadliest Catch" if you are familiar with that show.

Our plan is to plate the samples on various media using various dilutions every other day for 16 days to test how long the product lasts. We will also do sensory tests such as smell, flavor and texture. We are using Petrifilms to test for coliforms (with a special indicator for e. coli) and to do an aerobic plate count, and have made up special differential agar to test for lactic acid producing bacteria...in case any of you happen to know/care what all of that means.

The man in charge of the company flew from New Orleans to Seattle yesterday. They processed the crab, and he flew in this morning to bring it to us, meet us, and take us out to lunch. It was really quite fun. He is a wonderfully nice guy. He talked about what the project meant to the company and let us smell and try the crab to show us what it was supposed to taste like. Jeremy came with us, and he took us to a place he had been going to eat since he first came to college at BYU in 1993. It was a sushi bar in downtown Provo. He brought about a pound of crab to the owner of the restaurant, who was very good friends with him and told him that the 100 oysters he sent her last year were the best oyster she'd ever tasted in her life. Neither Jeremy nor I had ever had sushi before. He loved it; I didn't, but the non-seafoody food was good. We really enjoyed the whole experience.

I had to rush home after plating the samples because my English group is doing a set-of-instructions project on how to make a Pumpkin Cake for Halloween. I thought I would share a picture. It's really quite neat. Also, I cut my hair, as you can see in the picture at the beginning of the blog.

Sunflowers

2008-10-04T17:48:00.001-07:00

Our sunflowers finally bloomed! It made me so excited. Ever since I can remember my family has planted sunflowers outside our house every single year...and they have never actually managed to grow. I just scattered a 10 cent bag of seeds and they popped up. It's also kind of cool, because the blue flowers that are on vines crawled around the stems of the sunflowers...but I didn't post that picture because then you could see how weed-like our flower garden really looks. Still, I feel very accomplished.
I got a chance to deep clean our apartment today, which also made me feel better. It's been a few weeks. I had four tests this week, and still have a few assignments to finish up this weekend. It's been BUSY. I was hoping to get everything done so I could actually have a little bit of a weekend. I didn't finish all of it, but I'm going to end up doing a lot less studying than last weekend, which makes me happy. Last week I felt ready for Saturday on Tuesday. It's raining in Provo. I think that's on purpose so that people would stay inside and watch conference. I was hoping the weather would at least have the sense to stop when it's over, but I guess the boys need to go to their session too. After watching conference I went to Shopko and got new lenses for my glasses. The old ones had these weird stress fractures all around the outside of the lenses. The optometrists said it was because the lab had made lenses slightly too large for the frames, and that it wasn't my fault. Luckily they were still under warranty. The lady who helped me was even so nice to straighten them on my face and put new smaller nose pads on so they actually cover my eyes instead of sitting right below them! So that's exciting. I came home to find Jeremy cutting his own hair, so I decided to help even though he was doing a perfectly fine job on his own. I want to get my hair cut, but I've been a little too lazy recently. I wonder what would happen if I tried to cut my own hair...I'm not sure it's worth it.

I made this cow cookie for fun last night. I thought I would share.

Recent Events

2008-09-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, relatively stressful, and productive week. I guess we must be in school. Tonight's plan was to go watch a film at International Cinemas called "After Life" when you translate it into English. It looks like a cross between Final Cut and a C.S. Lewis book, and I really am interested in seeing it. It was showing at 5:30 tonight, but rather than leaving our apartment and walking up to campus at that time, we got in bed and took a 2-hour nap. It felt really good. The movie shows again tomorrow at 3:45. I hope we actually make it then. By the way, this is what Jeremy looks like when he's sleeping. I took it on a Sunday after church. I think he looks very nice.

My class's Thursday field trip this week was a tour of Deseret Mills. It was really interesting. One again, they make the flour and packaged products that I test. Flour mills are way cooler than I realized, though. The facility was 5 stories tall full of huge shaking machines and screens that separated out the flour, and we got to learn how the whole process worked. The only thing that made me sad was how they mix their grade 1 and grade 2 flours together. Because they are making it for the church welfare system, it doesn't have to be perfect and the mixture of the two produces an okay-looking only slightly grey flour. But the grade 1 flour looked so beautiful before they mixed it! I thought it was sad that they mixed it in with the crappy stuff to settle for what is only a moderately attractive flour. In all honesty, though, I'm sure most people don't notice. I bring the flour home after we test it, and it is what we use at home and works just fine.

Our garden is giving us HUGE zucchini. When we planted it we tilled the entire flour bed right next to the house, but only needed half of it for our vegetables. Our neighbors saw the tilled half and mentioned an interest of planting a garden of their own, so I left the spot open. After two or three months past and they didn't do anything on it, I took the liberty of scattering 6 random packets of seeds I bought in Moscow for 10 cents a piece just so that we could have something there to water other than weeds. It looks like a ragmuffin weed flower garden, but the individual flowers are quite beautiful. Jeremy took some pictures. Soon we should have some sunflowers
growing as well.

I was also excited this week to finally get Mac Office 2008. It's surprising how frustrating it is not to have Microsoft Word on a computer. I'd been using Google Documents to take notes in class and write papers, and it just does not work nearly as well. My computer also became pretty useless when there was no internet access. A praying mantis found it's way into our house one night as well. It was very entertaining to watch. We watched the Office this Thursday as well. We've been looking forward to it starting again for months now. It was sadly disappointing, actually. We realized that without cable we'd forgotten how annoying commercials were...and that we think we like Arrested Development better as a TV show. This Saturday both of us have tests to take. I have a Food Commodities Processing Test and Jeremy has Organic Chemistry. I also have three tests next week. That makes a test in every single one of my classes that actually has tests within the next week. At least there is no Kids on the Move this week, so I have an extra 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday night to study and figure things out. Also, we found a praying mantis in our house. It is very neat.

Post Marathon Photos

2008-09-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get any pictures of the immediate post-marathon. In consideration of the appropriate time frame, I didn't stop limping until last saturday. My foot still felt broken even after my muscles were no longer sore. I did get a few shots from Photo Booth on my mac. After 26.2 miles:

Contributing Posts

2008-09-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Alexandria says tells me that I haven't posted in a while, and in a word urged me to contribute. I have been rather busy lately. So far I've been able to turn in all my assignments on time. Many professors however are not very clear with their expectations on assignments though. I made a rule yesterday that I wouldn't work on buggy stuff except on the weekends. I finished my homework earlier than expected last night so I already broke the rule. I have plenty to do schoolwise for the remainder of the week to keep on track. Work is going well. I'm not there as often as I was during the summer obviously so I'm not as involved but still get a lot done. I still feel like a valuable asset to the shop. Ross and I spent some time trying to get some good results on the lathe in the shop. We're always looking for new tools or attachments to make things better.
Last night Alexandria and I volunteered at Kids on the Move in Orem. It was better last night as more kids showed up. The oldest was 7 and they were all boys. We had fun playing with them. Basically we play/babysit the kids while the parents are taking classes to help deal with disabled or socially chanllenged children (they usually dont bring those kids to class).
Sam and I ordered plans to help speed the process of building a frame. I spent several hours this summer on drafting programs and didn't feel like I wanted to model a the entire frame. So we found some plans that will save us a lot of time. We'll most likely have the buggy here in Utah after my sister's wedding in October. Then we can buy steel and start the project. We have a tight budget to stick to, but it should turn out really nicely. At this point I would like to praise the efficacy of Google Docs. They have helped Sam and I tremendously in sharing ideas and procedures.
As of yesterday Alexandria and I have been married for four months. I feel pretty settled into married life and everything is quite good. Even though school can be stressful, while I am at home I feel very relaxed and good spirited.

Weekend

2008-09-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've decided that weekends during the semester are much better than they were pre-married life. It just feels a lot less stressful and a lot more like real life than it did while we were engaged. I really like having Jeremy home all day Saturday. I'm glad that he no longer works at the MTC and that no one other than me wants him Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons; I don't have to fight the missionaries for his time.

This Friday night we went to our Stake Barbeque. It amused me that the meat they were serving was church meat--the stuff they test in the lab next door. At least that means I trust the safety. Jeremy's burger was completely pink in the inside, and he almost considered eating it anyway. Thankfully he decided against it. Safe or not, that's still disgusting. Sam and Michelle were being lazy and didn't come, so we went over to their apartment afterwards, looked at wedding pictures, and watched Stranger than Fiction. I love that movie.

I was excited Saturday morning for the first Saturday in MONTHS that I woke up and didn't have to go running. I instead had an aerobics class. It was much more enjoyable. After training for the marathon it's a relief to have something other than running to do three days a week.

We went to Shopko afterwards. My glasses have some sort of stress fracture in the lenses. We thankfully found out that they are still under warranty, and I get new lenses for free. We went to Target and bought work shirts for Jeremy and curtains. We put them up yesterday and now our bedroom is much more beautiful. Previously our window treatments consisted of broken blinds and a sheet tacked to the wall with pushpins.

We finished the evening with a trip to the dollar theater to see Kung Fu Panda and a late night trip to Taco Bell. It was a good evening and a good weekend. Church has moved to 10:30 for us, so we slept 10 hours Saturday night. I really am liking this whole married thing :)

Marathon

2008-09-10T07:31:00.001-07:00

I am sitting in my commodities class right now and should be paying attention, but unfortunately I am not. I'm sure I'll have questions about the benefits and means of chlorinating and cleansing water later on. I'll face that later.

We ran our marathon last Saturday. We finished! It took us a long time and it was sooo hard. I swear that's the most I've ever hurt in my life. We'll have to see in 4 years or so how it compares to having a baby. By then, though, I'm sure I will have forgotten what it felt like and the pain childbirth will win out. It's probably more painful anyway. While you can always remember that an experience hurt, it's very hard to remember the actual feeling of pain later on. I'm sure that is the only reason anyone ever has another child or runs another marathon. Now that four days later I finally feel okay again, I'm glad we did it :)

I bought a macbook yesterday. It came with the promise of a rebate for a free ipod touch (so I bought one of those as well) and a free 3-in-one printer (which I intend to sell as I already have the older version of the same printer). I'm really excited about it, but I also feel REALLY guilty. Especially since today my old computer actually seems to be working fairly well. I'm regretting upgrading when the old one works relatively fine. Also, one of my complaints about my old one was that it was too heavy to practically bring to class...but I just found out it only weighs .5 pounds more than the Macbook I just bought. I'm pretty much just stressed about spending money on a luxury for myself. It's also always annoying with new technology to transfer all the pictures, music, programs, etc. that you liked on the old computer to the new one. I still have to find a way to get office for Mac as well. Currently the bookstore is sold out.

My justification for spending 1000 dollars on myself is the fact that I was told Monday that I was receiving another unexpected scholarship for more. So that's exciting. I feel kind of bad about getting it considering we no longer need the money. Unfortunately the dinner I'm supposed to go to in order to accept the scholarship falls on the same night that we would need to fly out for Rebecca's wedding. So now I'm going to have to write a biographical sketch so they can read it about me while I'm not there to accept the scholarship in person from the scholarship donor (I would have had to write the sketch anyway). I think I will still go to the wedding, but if I do I will also have three tests the Monday I get back. So I'm sure I will be quite stressed, but in all honesty I would probably be stressed about three tests at the same time anyway even if I did take one on Saturday instead of going to my sister-in-law's wedding.

Classes are going well. They will be work, but doable. Yesterday we went to volunteer for Kids on the Move for the first time. Only one family of four boys showed up, but we had a wonderful time playing with them. Unfortunately we forgot Jeremy's backpack there, so he will have to drive back and get it today. I think that we will enjoy this volunteer project, though. I hope that more kids come in the future.

Incoming Parts

2008-09-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ok so here are some parts I have recieved of late.
These are the Hubs and spindles that will replace the broken ones. They are larger and will take much more abuse. They are trailer hubs with a 4 on 4 bolt pattern to fit our wheels. The miata rotors should slip right on to them as well. Then we just have to make a kingpin bracket to hold the caliper and attatch to the A-arms. I think I will add a zerk grease fitting so we can lube them without getting too dirty.

These are the master cylinders. The one on the left is the brake cylinder and is 7/8 of and inch bore. This pushes the brake fluid to the two front Miata calipers and the single CB750 rotor in the rear. It should have a much better brake feel than the small Master Cylinder of the motorcycle (mounted upside down...oops :) ) on the rear rotor only. The one on the right is 3/4 inch for the clutch. This replaces the clutch cable to the engine. More on that later. These will be attatched with 3/16 inch hard brake line to the calipers.

Peaches

2008-09-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

So I finally started classes. I went to all of them on Wednesday and it seems like it's going to be a busy yet manageable semester. I'm taking Food Commodities, Food Microbiology (the class which I think will be the biggest pain because of the group research project), Nutrient Metabolism (a class I think I'm really going to like), Sociology--Multicultural America, and Technical Writing. I'm also doing an aerobics class through BYU but not for credit because I'm sick of running every day. I went to it Wednesday and it made me sore! That's good except that the marathon's on Saturday and I really didn't want to be sore for it. I'm getting nervous. But it's okay, I'm sure we'll make it. I keep eating for some reason...I'm hoping that will stop afterward. Maybe I'm subconsciously carb-loading.

Part of the food commodities class involves a 3-5 hour field trip every Thursday. Today we went to the Lindon cannery and took a tour of the facilty and helped for an hour on the assembly line while they canned peaches. It was really quite fascinating to learn how they were actually processed after spending the last month testing peaches in my lab. One thing I found amusing, however, was the reason for their use of freestone peaches. Freestone peaches aren't meant for canning, but they are named as such because when you chop them in half the pit falls out easily. When you can them they turn mushy, stringy, and sometimes brownish. Clingstone peaches are the variety intended for canning. They have a better color and texture after heat processing. However, they are called clingstone peaches because the pit is secured onto the side of the peach and you have to cut around it to get it out. I had always assumed that the reason they used freestone peaches rather than clingstone was simply because they would have to buy a new machine to pit the latter. Yet it turns out they're actually buying that machine next year but are going to continue to only process freestone peaches. The reason? Because the "brethren" (or the apostles of the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints) like them better.

Another finding which amused me also involved peaches. Typically at work we test one can from every batch each cannery produces of any product. However, the Lindon cannery has been sending us two from each batch all summer. I assumed that there was a reason they were doing this; my boss told me it was probably because they had problems with their peaches in the past. This week, though, there was a lot to test: much more than we could get done. My boss didn't think we actually needed to test double the peaches from Lindon, so she called the head of Welfare Square. He said he didn't think we needed to either, so she called the Lindon cannery manager and asked why they had been sending two recently. He said that he didn't know, but the guy in charge of packing them just started packing two one day, so he decided that since the guy had already taken the effort to pack them he should go ahead and send them. Since he never talked to the guy, the guy kept packing two. So we've been doing doulble work for them all summer for NO REASON other than that some guy felt like putting two cans of peaches from each batch in every box rather than one. Go figure.

School

2008-09-02T17:07:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of class. I didn't go. I realized that every one of my classes meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and that I only have labs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since today was one of those days and the class itself hasn't met yet, there was no lab. I was scheduled to work 3 hours this morning. However, since there was a lot to do at work I ended up working 7 which is fine because I didn't really know what I was going to do otherwise while Jeremy was in class. We've been so bored recently even while we're together (or at least I've been so bored recently) that I can't think of anything more to do by myself. I'm sick of reading, sick of movies, and ready to go to class tomorrow because at least it will keep me busy. The marathon is this weekend. I'm starting to get nervous for it. The entire Utah Valley is having a regional conference following it as well.

Next weekend there is a pretty cool opportunity in Spanish Fork that I'd like to go to. It's at the Krishna temple in Spanish Fork (they have a couple events a year) and is the pageant of the Ramayana. We read that story in my World Literature class and talked about the festival, and I think it would be fascinating to actually see it acted out. The climax involves burning a 20 ft tall effigy of Ravana with flaming arrows.

First day of classes Fall 2008

2008-09-02T17:06:00.001-07:00

This morning I went to work as usual but at noon I went home to shower and eat lunch and then go to class. Work consisted of me climbing into one of those shelving units on the back of a pickup truck to cut the old shelving mount out of it with a cutoff air tool. I reiterate the climbing into part of the story. Its 52 inches deep and 22 inches wide, just enough space to wiggle into on your stomach. Once inside I could turn just a little to get a good angle to cut with. I spent nearly two hours with my upper torso burrowed into this unit with my legs dangling out the side. Once inside I maneuvered the grinder to remove several welds along the walls. Then wielding a crowbar and sleever I would pry the mounts out. That was fun. You may wonder why I had to do this. The truck belongs to the plumbing shop. The latches on the drawers came loose while the driver was at the football stadium. As he went around the corner the drawers slid out (as they are prone to do) and hit one of the stadium's pillars. The two foot pillars ripped the drawers out of the truck.

So then I went and got ready for school. Today I had a recitation section for Chem 352 (which I am repeating) Christian History, and the organic chem lab with the infamous Mrs. Hinshaw. I think I had a good beginning though. Classes should go better this year. Things are settled down and I feel more focused. I will most likely drop Christian History, although it seems like a very interesting class, as MFG 130 Modern Manufacturing fulfills my credit balance this semester. I only kept Christian History on there in case the MFG 130 lab doesn't jive with my schedule as a backup. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow. For now, I should study for class before I fall behind. I almost feel productive. :)

The Summer of Buggy Part 2

2008-09-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Back to the story. I added this ironically titled movie "It is finally done this time." You can hear in the movie the clicking of the chain tensioner and how the engine isn't quite dialed in right, namely you can hear the surges and dips in the RPMs. I believe I left off where I saw the tire bouncing away. Sam told me that from his vantage point in the parking lot he saw me drive behind a hill and then didn't see me exit from behind the hill. He did however see a large dust cloud. I unstrapped myself from the buggy and called Sam to come pick me up. He and my mom hopped in the MDX and hauled the trailer to where I was. He was coming pretty fast and I am pretty sure the MDX and the trailer got some air barrelling down the track.

It has been sitting in the garage missing its front tires for almost three years now. Last summer after we returned from our missions we got a few parts together, e.i. stiffer springs and some heim joints but didn't really get much done as we both went back to school for a summer term. Then we got distracted by school, work, and some girls. I thought it would forever cloud our garage like the car under the tarp in Better off Dead. So yes both of us entered the confusing and complicated time of dating, engagement, and weddings. But then the storm lifted and my tunnel vision opened to see the realm of possibility in buggydom. Now that I a married, I needed a hobby. I didn't think I would have the time or money to work on the buggy again but that changed. It started when I began working at the welding shop on campus. We have the best collection of tools that I have ever been previledged to work with. At this point though I still thought that it wouldn't be possible to work on it again because of the aforementioned reasons of time and money. However I realized that one can make time and money, it just takes some effort and budgeting of both the time and of the money. I also began to look at it as an investment. My thought process was as follows. Buy parts, fix buggy, sell buggy, save money x 10 years, and build better buggy and metal shop in the future. Then I'll probably sell that one and make a new one and viola I have a lifelong hobby.

One day, after the mechanics were parting out the broken Hawaiian GEM cars, there were two steering shafts and rack and pinions in the dumpster at work. I decided that these would be a great start to overhaul the buggy. I snapped a picture with my phone and sent a picture to Sam saying essentiallly "I have a plan, we need to fix the buggy." After that I began to research design and parts. My purpose this summer has been to this end: Fix the buggy. I think I have drawn six different models for the front suspension on Solid Edge. I have gone over measurements and plans and know what I want. I talked to my boss about getting the steel and also found out about water jet cutting for all the platework. I am pretty excited. I am very close to actually working on it again. There are just a few problems still. 1. I am in Utah. The buggy is in California. 2. School starts tomorrow. 3. My plans are quickly becoming more grandiose and a few hundred bucks wont suffice in fulfilling them.

We talked about converting it into a two-seater. It would sell for more and would be more fun to drive anyway. Yesterday after checking over the dimensions we would basically have to build a new frame. We would have to carve so much out of the original frame (which is really OK by me, it was a poor design anyway) that there would only be the engine mount left. The extra steel isn't an issue, the average build of a mini buggy is about 250 ft of steel. A local supplier is selling 1 3/16 round tube .120 wall for $0.59/ft. We would need about 100 ft if we just did the front end. So I don't know what we'll do then. The water jet is only $15 an hour so getting our plates cut will be easy. It will just take more time. However I don't think it will take as much time as it did the first time we we're really inexperienced and didn't have any plans to go by. We also lacked tools. I really think that now we could have all the tubes cut and bent in one day, and notched and tacked together in a day more. The plate would be cut in an hour or two while we work on the mills and lathes in the shop. I think most of the time would be spent hooking everything back up, and prepping the frame for paint. The question really is if all of this effort would translate into a higher selling cost. It has to be done and sold by the summer of 2010 so we have some time to do it. After that I'll be in Med school who know where and I definately wont be working on the buggy then. So I guess right now I'll just have to wait.

In short, my mind has been keen on this subject throughout the summer which is why, even though it remains 800 miles away, this has been my summer of buggy.

The Summer of Buggy Part 1

2008-09-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody. This is the other blog scribe. Most of our summer has already been catalogued by my wife. Working at the welding shop has been great. Each day I get to fix things or design and build new ones. As I practice and hone my fabrication skills, possibilities in the realm of buggydom are increasingly apparent. I digress to persue the historical import; during my senior year of high school my brother and I adopted a wrecked motorcycle for $300 and began to build what is called a mini buggy. We finished it by summer's end before we moved to Utah and the rest of the family moved to California. Then one of the sprockets failed. It got pushed onto the moving trailer and was pushed off at my grandparents house in PG, Utah.
While Sam and I were freshmen at BYU, realizing the university had millions of dollars of shop equipment at our disposal, we again began to reinvent the buggy, reinforcing the rear drivetrain and making other modifications as we saw fit. We had no organized plans and no experience apart from owning a few go-karts and reading things on the internet. Once again we were pushed to complete the project by spring when school ended and we would both leave on our missions in May. We diligently spent the week of reading days and finals to complete the buggy in time. Everything worked great and we were able to show a working buggy again to our parents. After buzzing around the block it was time to load it on the trailer to move it to my parents house in CA. As I let out the clutch and gassed it onto the trailer the front left heim joint failed and the nose dive onto the loading ramp. There was no time to fix it so we pushed it on to the trailer and pushed it off in CA.
Once there we replaced the heim joint with a larger size and we were able to drive it again. Aside from the aesthetic maladies of a very loud and obnoxious chain tensioner and a sagging soft front end, if performed well on our neighborhood culdesac. The steering had a bit of a pull to one side due to archaic methods of aligning the front end when we built the control arm mounts. We borrowed the trailer again from my uncle and took it to a local OHV area in Greater Sacramento. I can't remember what it was called. (We had the buggy titled and registered in Utah to avoid legal obstacles in CA. Once titled and registered its much easier to register again in CA.) I forgot to mention that we again had to push the buggy on the trailer. Luckily it wasn't due to and mechanical catastrophes, only an empty gas tank. We unloaded were they run the baja truck events as the size of the buggy wouldn't allow us to run on the ATV trails. Sam took a few laps around the parking lot. I got in and headed for the mile long loop of the baja track. I guess I went backwards but nobody else was there. I was going about 40 mph on some pretty rough terrain. The suspension was clearly too soft. After one small drop the a-arms hit the tie rod on the right side buckling it a little. Now I was driving with one whell cocked to the side. I slowed with the idea just to get back to the car and sort out the issues. I was at the halfway point going up a hill on a blind corner. I was only going about 25 mph when at the crest of the hill 10 feet in front of me I saw a ditch running across the track. It was large enough to swallow the front tires. What ensued as I remember was a rather abrupt stop as the frame "ran aground" and the buggy lurched forward. The harness caught me and I remember hearing the engine stall. I think I was in second gear. Then I looked up and saw nothing but dust. I don't think I could see my hands on the steering wheel. We the dust settled I saw about 50 feet away the right tire bouncing about 10 feet in the air. The spindle had snapped (for the most part due to poor engineering and insufficient welding) and the wheel took it along for the ride. Bummer.

Anyways Alexandria says I must go now. I assure you that this will make some sense in relation to this summer as I continue to explain...but that will be later.

Rain

2008-09-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

So of course it decided to rain labor day weekend. Most of my life it has, I just didn't expect it to happen in Provo, Utah where it has been so sunny and warm all summer. The weather forecast did predict it, but when they predicted rain for two weeks straight in July I believe it only rained for maybe a total of three hours. It is kind of funny that the rain makes me homesick because rain all of the time is exactly what I hate about Moscow.

It's just kind of hard to go back to school without seeing my family first. Even last year when I came out to summer term I got two months of parents and siblings to myself before I had to make it through to December. This summer I got less than a week with them--two stressful days in May in Sacramento while I was busy trying to get married and keep people happy (an impossible task by the way) and four days in Moscow in June with Jeremy and his parents trying to get ready for another reception while everyone was in town to be entertained and my mother was busy making a million cakes and trying to get everything else ready. Of course it rained the whole time...Moscow wouldn't want to let Jeremy see it sunny. I can't really blame the city though. I knew that my hometown only likes to participate in the season most people refer to as summer for about a month each year.

I just feel kind of sad that I don't know when I'll see them again. The first opportunity we'll most likely have is Christmas. Christmas is my least favorite time to be home so I don't know if we'll go. Austin is going on a mission soon so we're guaranteed he'll come out before that, but I don't think it will be until February or March that he actually leaves as he is not putting in his papers until November. The hardest part has just been seeing Jeremy's family so much while I never see mine at all.

The rain ruined our camping trip. We did not get to go once this summer. We had planned it several times and it never worked out. The most recent plan was to go this Friday-Saturday for a last summer hurrah until we learned that Jeremy's mother was coming into town for Sam and Michelle's open house and we decided to stay and spend time with her.

Anyway, we decided that we could still go camping Sunday-Monday after church. The rain decided for us that we weren't. We packed everything into the car, drove up the canyon and were ready to go to the campsite when the thunderstorm struck and turned around and drove home. Maybe we'll get to go later this month or next summer.

Starting Up

2008-08-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

I was told at work that I should get a blog now that I'm married, because apparently that is what married people do. It sounded like a good enough idea so I'm trying it out. We'll see if I get into it or not, and if anyone reads it :) Jeremy and I decided that we might as well do it together, so here goes.

It's been a good and interesting summer. A lot of changes have occurred. I think the biggest change occurred May 16 when Jeremy and I got married in the Sacramento temple. That was quite a wonderful day. We went on a cruise down to San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico for our honeymoon. It was fun and I liked it, yet at the same time I'm not sure I'd ever do a cruise again. There were certainly entertaining parts such as going to the zoo together in San Diego (it was overcast that day which was perfect because all the animals were actually out), an amusing comedy show, and a midnight chocolate buffet that made us both feel quite sick when followed by the rocking of the boat. However, it seems that on a cruise most of your time is spent trying to find something to do to entertain yourself until the time for the next thing you actually want to do rolls around. So I think that one was enough for me.

The rest of the summer was pretty much spent working and running. Jeremy and I were lucky enough to work it out so that we had the same hours for work, and spent a lot of spare time training for a marathon we're running next Saturday (September 6th). It will be our first marathon so the goal is merely to finish and not necessarily to win. It should be fun. I've always wanted to run one. Jeremy has agreed to join me.

Other occurrences throughout the summer included taking a swimming class (Jeremy took beginning swimming and I took intermediate) mainly for complicated financial aid purposes, me taking a cake decorating class at Michaels, having a wedding reception in Moscow, Idaho (my hometown) in June, and Jeremy's dad getting a successful heart transplant (for which everyone is very grateful).

School starts next Tuesday. I don't actually have classes the first day of class due to the fact that my only class on Tuesdays is a lab and we don't have it the first week. Neither one of us are terribly excited to go back, but at least it will be something to do. Four months of only working sounded like such a vacation, but there really are only so many books you can read and so many movies you can watch before you get bored. I'm sure we will be plenty busy soon. We are both taking 15 credits, and found a place to volunteer on Tuesday nights watching kids while parents take evening classes. It should be fun and we're hoping that the semester goes well for us. At least this year we are guaranteed a quiet place to study :) I absolutely love our apartment. It's cute, wonderful and close to campus.

So I guess that's about all for now. We'll see how posting goes in the future.