The Weird White Shirt

Christin and I joke a lot about how much alike we think and are. We do a lot of things very similarly. Much of that I think you can attribute to the amount of DNA we share. Some things seem a little weird.

Two days ago I decide that I need a little more variation in my wardrobe. I think that if I get a long sleeve ribbed white shirt that I could wear it with quite a few things. So I run a google search for it, though I can't find anything that is that great, at least in the five minutes that I dedicated to it. Christin comes home last night after shopping with John. "Look at the new shirt I bought," she says. Yep. This is it. She bought it in the men's section. I tried it on as well. Weird.

John the Gangster/Global Protector/Movie Lover

During dinner tonight Tyler started talking about how he showered in this really cool shower, which I believe was a little like this. John immediately jumps in with a comment about how much water that wastes. Christin and I look at each other and start laughing. Pretty hard. Here's some background.

The first time I see this picture I show Christin. "This is the shower I want!" Christin immediately googles it.

John to me is the epitome of responsibility. He paid for half of his mission by recycling, a project he started when he was ten. He is very smart with his money. He keeps a good reserve in his bank account and is very responsible with his purchases. He drives a very fuel efficient, reliable Toyota Camry. Of course he regularly rotates his tires and such. He probably takes very short, luke-warm showers. He unplugs our Christmas tree every time we leave the house. He is concerned if we leave our fan on if we are gone overnight. If we go on a trip he needs to plan out how much gas we will use. Now I am not trying to frown upon this. I think it is very good. Just not something that the Carbiener's are especially good at. Or really give a second thought to.

We went on to laugh about how Christin read reviews about how someone had to purchase a second water heater. Instead of changing her mind, she simply added a second water heater into the cost of it. We laughed harder as we joked about watering the yard with Christin's excess water, about Mexicans stealing water from her front yard, about Palisades' reservoir being at half capacity because of her shower, etc. I don't actually remember the last time I laughed that much. I laugh until I cry probably once a week. It doesn't take that much. But tonight I laughed so much it hurt. It was great.

Another thing about my friend John is that he loves talent, in every form besides country music that is. Even in really old, kinda lame musicals. Tonight I tell John that I don't want to watch The Sound of Music. These are two of my favorite comments that followed:

"This is not a weird movie, it is an academy award winning musical."
"I've never seen My Cousin Vinny, but it damn sure can't be better than The Sound of Music.

Only a certain brand of gangsters have a place in their hearts for The Sound of Music. - Christin

John, I'm glad you are around. I'm glad you are there to make me feel guilty for not shutting off the water while I brush my teeth. And for showering daily. And for flushing the toilet every time I go to the bathroom. You're the best white gangster/global protector/movie lover I know.

Christmas

It was different. We had a mini Christmas with friends the week before on the 19th. I got some really cool things from my friends. They're pretty awesome (my friends). I got an Easy Bake Oven for Kristine. I painted a picture for John that we had seen while eating at Pita Jungle one day. Bridget got me a Spain travel guide. Tyler got me a slingshot. I got Ariana something that still isn't here (very cool though). Bridget and I got Christin these Salt and pepper mills that she has wanted for five years. It was good Christmas shopping. I really enjoy presents that I think that people will like.

It was nice being home for a few days with my family. My dad said it was a much smaller Christmas even though it really didn't feel like it. Adam put a bow on Tate's head. Kaitlynn was excited about everything. Christin and I read Jolly Old Santa Claus by ourselves since everyone else went to bed. Nana cried. My mom got mad when people took pictures of her. It was nice that that was normal. Everything was a little different, but y'know, it still was Christmas. And it was still great.

Things Are Back to Normal

You know those little magnet bracelets that are supposed to create better circulation? I think the opposite may be true for other metals.

Sometime in late July or early August, I was working with a pair of broken wire strippers and somehow stripped a small piece of copper into my thumb. Since that time I have attempted twice to remove it with a razor blade and numerous times with tweezers. I eventually accepted the fact that I was going to have to wait until it grew out while staring every few minutes at this discoloration in the tip of my thumb.

Well that day finally came. Yesterday it came out!!!
I can breathe a little easier, I can sleep a little better, colors seem brighter. Yep, this will be a good year.

Energy Efficient Carbieners

Once I made a comment to Ariana about how I was not that fast.
"The thing is you're not that slow," she replies. "It just has to be worth it."
She then proceeded to give me the run down on a theory she had been working on; energy efficient Carbieners.

The Carbieners aren't lazy, they are just energy efficient.
If they need to move quickly, they will move quickly, but only when necessary.
They will be on time for something if it is important. If things will go on just as normal without them, they will show up "pretty close" to on time.
They exercise, but only to the point to keep them from getting fat.
They could go visit their friends more (and they probably should). Usually they opt for making their house more enticing though so that they can stay there and have people come visit them.
Carbieners plan to have activities on their beds. This optimizes comfort and is incredibly convenient if anyone gets tired, as they do not have to relocate to sleep.

Though some in the world would like to think less of us for living this way, the truth is we are highly evolved organisms. The Carbiener children are simply preparing themselves for the end of the world. Everyone else will be running around wasting away to nothing while we continue on with life pretty much as usual. After years of perfecting our beings to function at the optimal efficiency, we will survive.

Who knows, maybe they'll have to donate our bodies to science. Make studies of us and teach economics classes about cost/benefit ratios and stuff.

Once Upon a Time In Mexico

Last week I had the chance to go to Mexico for a few days. I was a little wary of going as I only knew two of the seventy people that were going to be on the trip. I have this underlying fear that I will be in a group of a lot of friends that do not want me to be friends with them. But after some words of encouragement from John I decided to go.

Bridget, Amber, and myself left about nine o'clock Thursday morning and arrived in San Diego a few hours ahead of everyone else. We just kinda hung out until the others showed up, which after a small car accident was about five hours. We got everyone together and began the drive down to Ensenata, It was a little crazy having a line of seventeen cars trying to stay together, but it all went really smoothly. After a stop for tacos we made it to the beach and set up camp.

The next day we packed up and headed to the orphanage. It was a little nicer place than I think I had imagined. I also don't think that I expected to see the kids so happy. I'll touch on that a little more a little later. After meeting the kids we broke off into groups, some painting beds and cribs, some reapplying lacquer to a jungle gym, and my group that went up to the neighborhood school to play with the kids.

Some played tag and others played kickball. One of the teachers grabbed me and we drew little flowers for the kids to color and cut out. After a little while I went and played tag for a bit. It was all a lot of fun. After lunch we broke off again, this time I was assigned to tree-decorating-duty. Tashina and I got out the boxes of ornaments and covered the huge fake tree with them and nearly a thousand lights. I did have to defer the angel to someone much taller than me.

After dinner there was a great variety show which included a first time performance for a band of With or Without You. There was a wrestling match, a clown, pies thrown in faces, a Beauty and the Beast reenactment, a magic show, hula hooping performance. . . . It was awesome. After, all of the kids got a bag of presents that someone had bought specifically for them. They came back in and excitedly opened them. It was a very magical feeling to see the excitement on their faces. I think that might have been my first real glimpse into how parents feel on Christmas morning. All very magical.

We camped around the orphanage that night so that we could get started early the next morning. My group began moving thousands of pounds of bagged flour from one building to another. I have never seen so much flour in all of my life!!! As soon as I find a picture of it I will post it. We got to go deliver little Christmas boxes later throughout the community. It was really neat. They had a few little toys, along with some rice, beans, and hygiene kits. Even though most of the people just smiled and said thanks as we stumbled our way through a Christmas carol, there were some really neat experiences. At one house we were invited in (there were only like ten of us) and sang to the woman's bedridden husband. At one house Bridget was immediately greeted with tears as she needed help so badly. They went back and gave several blankets and bags of things to help her out with her seven children. When the original boxes were gone, most of the group left, but ten or so of us went to deliver a few more bins of toys and bags of clothes. Word traveled pretty fast and people ran down the hill to come find us. It was a really neat experience.

We stopped back by the orphanage briefly to say goodbye and then headed to Ensenata for trinket shopping. As soon as everyone had their fill of bracelets and jewelry that they didn't really want in the first place, we returned to the beach for our last night. We gathered around the campfire and had a little testimony of sorts where people could share their thoughts or favorite parts of the trip. A random beach dance party followed, and then we took off a little after six the next morning to come home.

Overall it was really great for me. I am so glad that I was able to go and that I went. Even though I am not someone who suddenly feels bad for the material things that he has, it does make me appreciate a little more what I have been given. Going back now to the kids being happy, I know that part of it was the excitement of having so many visitors, and so many people that wanted to do whatever THEY wanted to do. But I also believe that those kids did feel some love from others around them. Those running the orphanage seemed to care, and they were surrounded by a lot of friends that cared about them too. Though they clung to the one on one attention because they didn't get that a lot, they were still in a pretty safe place. I'm glad that Heavenly Father has blessed them. They are dealt a very difficult card being orphans. That is their cross to bear in this life. But He takes care of them in different ways, and shows his love to them by sending them people to love them. And even though it puts into perspective how much the Lord requires of me because of the things I am given, I am still very grateful. Hasta la proxima Mexico.

Girls Really Do Run the World

There is a common misconception in society that males run the world. Sure they are found in more leadership positions, they are paid more, and they are titled as the head of the government in every country in the world (to the best of my knowledge). But really, guys are a bunch of suckers.

Guys will really do most anything that women ask. Even if the male is in the spotlight, everyone knows that there is a woman in the background giving orders. Probably half the reason Obama won was because no one thought that Hillary should be able to serve three presidential terms. Girls speak and generally guys listen.

What this is leading to is a point that I have discussed several times with my friends; guys dress to impress girls, girls dress to impress girls as well.

Girls, you should try out a little experiment. The next time you see one of your guy friends in a shirt that you don't particularly like, tell him that you really don't like it. Wha-la. You will never see him wear that shirt again. Just like that. On the other hand, a girl could get six similar comments about a shirt, but if her best friend said she looked cute in it, she wouldn't care the least.

I will give you a few more examples. Starting with my favorite:

The Poof




I understand girls like their hair out of their faces. There are other options though, as this is always a bad choice. I know it's fast. I know it is convenient. I know your girlfriends say you look cute. But it is not. Do not try to justify it because your poof is not as big as these girls. Guys still don't like it. Go ahead. Ask them.

Skinny Jeans

One morning a really wealthy fashion designer was enjoying a delicious bowl of muesli for breakfast when the thought came into their head, "What if we stuffed average-sized girls into jeans that were custom tailored for Kate Moss?!?!" Thus the skinny jean was born.



I need to throw in a disclaimer first. Kristine, you are built very little. I am not convinced entirely that skinny jeans are the best choice even for you, but you are one of the 0.0243 % of girls that could "pull them off" the best I suppose they can be. However, the other 99.9757% of the female gender is not built like that. What girl thinks when they wake up in the morning, "I think I will find the jeans that will make my hips look as wide as they possibly can and wear them. Yeah, that's a good idea."? Do they not know that this is the result of wearing skinny jeans? Or is it just because their roommate is in the background saying, "Oh Quinn, you look soooo cute in those."

Really Big Sunglasses

The big sunglasses guys are reluctantly accepting. But just remember they do like to see some of your face girls.

Capris

Guys never liked these. We just surrendered eventually because they didn't go away.

High Waisted Skirts

Over the years girls have figured out new ways to hide the few extra pounds that they may hang on to. One of the more popular ideas has been the high wasted skirt. It does do an amazing job eliminating the "muffin top", but it also all-but-eliminates every bit of female torso. Some do make the legs look a little longer, but most simply make your booty longer as well. The problem is, Kate Hudson can barely pull off a high waisted skirt. Why would average girls be able to pull them off? Bad idea. Unless you untuck the shirt.

Just ask for a guys advice girls. And listen.

Goodbye, Easier Said Than Done

Two years ago I made the most expensive purchase of my life up to that point. I bought myself a Cadillac CTS. My intention was to quickly sell it, hopefully make a profit, and buy a Mustang.



Two years later, I still had it. I had posted it, showed it a few times, all unsuccessfully.

Well, Christin might have totalled it tonight. Not her fault, she's fine. It might have actually worked out alright for me.

The thing is, as nice as it might be to have it gone, I can't help but be a little sad. Despite costing me way more money than I had and not even being overly reliable, I really liked it. It was a lot of fun. I will miss my dvd player. I will miss the silver tinted windows. And even though I live in the desert, I will really miss those heated seats. Goodbye car.

A Few Bright Lights in the Filth of Modern Entertainment

So maybe that's a little dramatic. If you paid any attention to the Britney, Lindsay, or Paris drama the last two years though, you might decide that it is not so far off the mark. The entertainment industry is efficiently making it more widely known that our society is steadily declining. Hollywood couples marry and divorce as though their spouses were fruit that had gone bad, supposing that Sunflower Market has a much better and much more attractive selection available to them whenever they are hungry. Movies like Saw make enough money that they produce five of them. Nelly Furtado became one of the hottest names in music by changing her "Like A Bird" image to "Promiscuous Girl". The Osbournes let America know that it is "perfectly normal" to scream and cuss at your family all the time.

Disclaimer: I am not completely free from this. I still get sucked in occasionally by shows such as "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders". From time to time I even listen to the Yin Yang Twins or Snoop Dogg.

In the sea of filth there is some good out there. Extreme Home Makeover. Celine Dion and her really old husband. Brad Paisley and his music videos with his cute wife. Maybe we could even put Pimp My Ride or Overhaulin' on that list. Probably not Punk'd.

On a different tangent, my friend Tyler has discussed with me this subject a few times: if any of you have ever sat through a mormon fast and testimony meeting you might think that mormons led the most difficult lives conceivable to man. There are tears, everyone talking about trials and how this month or this week has been maybe the hardest of their lives. They usually have a happy "I have been blessed a lot" point toward the end, but it too often seems overshadowed.

The fact is, most of us live pretty good lives. We all have hard things. But far too often we allow that to outweigh the good. On the way home from church on Sunday I heard a song that I have liked since the first day I heard it, Just Another Day in Paradise. The Phil Vassar version, not Phil Collins. If you are not familiar with this song, or would like to listen to it anyways, click here.



Even though I do not particularly like Phil Vassar and think that he is creepy looking, it's a great song. His life isn't perfect, he doesn't have the house of his dreams, his kids cry as much as any others, appliances break. He can't even have sex because his kid has a nightmare!! But he has people around him that he cares about and that care about him. And he's happy right where he is.

Our world has a lot of chaos and a lot of bad in it. But there is still good. And there are still good people. And I think few people could truthfully say there is more bad than good in their lives. And I am glad that there are songs like this that help me remember that everything is okay.

Floating in Zero Gravity

God made us some fascinating bodies. Take our ear for example. Inside each one of our ears are three semi-circular canals. One canal is positioned to control up and down motion, another side to side, and another for tilt. Inside each of these are little hairs that have fluid over them. When we move, so does the fluid, and in turn so do the hairs. The nerves connected to the hairs let the brain know where we are moving so we don't fall over (if you have ever seen Christin riding a bike or me playing basketball, you might question if our fluid was flowing correctly). When people drop sharply on roller coasters or on airplanes, this fluid lifts and it throws their bodies all out of whack.



In each of our lives we have a sort of internal equilibrium. Not the kind that works off of fluid and tiny hairs, but our daily interactions. Whether it is the time we wake up, when we say our prayers, what kind of toothpaste we use, what time our mailman comes, exercising daily, or having our favorite skillet to cook with, we all have factors in our life that add a little stability to it and keep us sane and balanced.

The last few days I have felt a little like I am floating in zero gravity. Not because I have fallen or banged my head an extreme amount of times, but because one of my stabilizing factors has changed. My sister.

You see, though we are very similar in many ways, our operating volume is not one of them. I will raise my voice at times in groups or on rare occasions, but generally I am not a loud person. Christin does not fit this mold. She is used to having people wince from the assault on their eardrums resulting from her laugh (not that I don't love her laugh, it is just a bit sharp at times). She is used to having people tell her to use her quiet voice. She finds it a shock if anyone ever asks her to use a microphone, regardless of the size of the crowd she is addressing. This week that has all changed.

Two days ago Christin lost her voice. It has been excrutiating for her. You can read her thoughts on it here. The thing is, it is weird for me. I almost don't know how to interact with this new quiet roommate of mine. I wonder why this girl is constantly whispering to me. I don't know if I need to talk softer to her so she doesn't feel bad, or if I need to talk a lot louder to compensate.

Christin, it is just weird. You are throwing off my life equilibrium. I know it is not your fault, but I need you to get better soon.

Brad In The Land of Women

2007 was a momumental year. David Beckham came to play with the LA Galaxy. Oprah left $30 million to her dogs. In October Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $264 million. Britney shaved her head. And five million people worldwide died from smoking.

In the midst of all of this excitement, some things were over-looked.
Exhibit A;

Christin introduced me to this movie, In the Land of Women, about six months ago. Its a decent movie. Not great, but decent. Adam Brody moves into his grandma's house and ends up getting thrown smack dab in the middle of a lot of girls, and ends up becoming a central role in all of their lives.

I reference this because at times I feel like this is very similar to the life I lead. I have been surrounded by women for much of my life. God placed me in a family with no brothers, only two sisters. As a result, my ninja turtles often ended up going on dates with barbies. When I was in elementary school I would spend time nearly everyday in BodyShapers, an all-women gym where my mom taught aerobics and also had a hair salon. I have grown up watching movies like Sleepless in Seattle and Bed of Roses. I have still never seen all of Ace Ventura, Forrest Gump, or Dazed and Confused (not that those are movies only guys watch. I'm just mentioning them for contrast). Presently, I live surrounded by girls and seem to be able to be helpful at times or a shoulder to cry on occasionally. Thankfully I still turned out as a straight, fairly normal guy.

I say fairly normal because there are still some weird things about me. I still like chick flicks. I get a little emotional almost every time I watch Extreme Home Makeover. Buying clothes is one of my favorite things to do. It drives me crazy to have the toilet seat left up. I sew fairly well. I prefer cooking to eating out almost always, and I do that pretty well too. I bake. I'm a sucker for sappy love songs, and I'll rock out to I Will Survive whenever I feel like it. And I enjoy cosmetology.

p.s. I understand these are generalizations and that these are not all things that only women do. Just go with it for now though.













A little over five years ago I did my first haircut. Exhibit B;


I think that was possibly his last haircut.

During my mission I improved some. I became many elder's barber. Except that I wasn't paid for it.

Probably eight months ago Ariana wanted me to trim the back of her hair. That was my first time cutting a female's hair. Over the summer though Bridget thought that it would be a good idea to have me cut and color her hair. I am to this day not quite sure what gave her the confidence that I would be able to do such a thing. But I did. And actually, it didn't turn out too bad. After that followed Francesca, which I did a great job on. Arianne wasn't as happy with hers, but really, I wanted those extra four or five inches of hair out of the way. Sorry . . .



Last of all Kristine felt like I would do a better job cutting her bangs than she would. I had never cut bangs. Nor did I have any idea what she wanted done. But she ended up happy.



So thanks to all of the women in my life, thanks for making me who I am. And to all of you that have let me cut your hair, thanks for letting me practice when your better judgement told you otherwise.

Botched Attempts and Nudists Wearing Clothes

Last year I was sitting at a Halloween party and pondering the question, "What Halloween costume would get me the most action?" I started thinking about ways to get girls to kiss me and the idea came; the frog prince!!







Unfortunately, it didn't work. At all. I neglected to recognize the fact that I would be at a mormon party, and that sometimes mormons are really lame. Nope, not even one kiss. And even if I wouldn't have been painted green I don't think I would have!! Maybe Love Seat and Kissing Booth stole all my thunder.

This year I figured that I would tone it down a little. If I would have talked to the guy at Custom X before, I would have had the great idea to be a braille dictionary. Instead I settled for the "not-naked naked guy". I know, a little boring, but at least I had hot girls to hang out with, right?



And I even found some mistletoe to kiss. Not that I think you are really supposed to kiss mistletoe . . .

New Friends, Car Accidents, and Blood Loss

Thursday I introduced myself to a girl in my institute class. We ended up talking for some time while we waited for our friends in the quiet study room. Her friend Brenley shows up and after a few minutes talks us into donating blood. I am usually very excited to do this, but I hadn't eaten yet and wasn't sure I would be okay. But they were cute. So I did. I'm such a sucker.

I was doing a dinner review that evening at a little pizza place in Scottsdale and she came with me. I really had a good time with her and even agreed to go to a movie later that night (yes I will delete any comments I feel are inappropriate. Ariana :)) . So Tyler and I drove way out in the middle of nowhere to see a movie that neither of us really wanted to see. It was nice to get out though.

After the movie we were following them to the freeway when they didn't stop for a red light accidentally (most likely distracted talking about the awesome guys they had just met) and had a Lexus SUV plow into the back half of her little Tercel at like thirty miles an hour. Their car spun around a few times and we ran to check on them but luckily everyone was alright. Except maybe the other kids that had stolen their mom's car and snuck out to go the the movie . . .



We drove them home and ended up getting back to my place around five. It was a long day. A good day though. I don't really know if I would be able to handle it if every first day that I met someone things turned out like that. But maybe my blog would be more interesting.

Bodyrolling and Deep Relaxation

Several months ago Christin found this spa while shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. She might have even blogged about it before. It has taken a substantial portion of her willpower to not buy weekly spa treatments and attend the private pilates classes. To try to satisfy some of this urge she does periodically check the website for specials in hopes that one day she might actually go there.

This Saturday they are having a class that she mentioned to me. Stolen from their website:

"BODYROLLING and DEEP RELAXATION with KAT MYERS Saturday, October 25th from 12 - 3 pm

Body Rolling is a potent healing system that elongates muscle, develops core strength, stimulates bone and promotes healing by creating inner space and alignment. A quiet, personal and deep inner adventure. It is time to come home and experience the magic within."

"It sounds like pilates combined with yoga," I say.
"Oh no, I'll show you what it is," she shoots back.
I thought I would share it with you.

Warm Bread and New Shoes

I love my sisters more than I let them know sometimes. I do. I think they are wonderful. They are the other two moms that helped raise me. Anyone that knows my sisters also knows that they are different. They each have different talents and have helped me with different things in my life.

Take Candice for example. Working as the assistant manager at Vanity, she used to be a fashion expert. She would be right on top of whatever was new and could put together a great looking ensemble for mere pocket change. She went to school and learned to cut hair, and is constantly changing hers. But one day she grew up and became a mom. Now I still believe she has more fashion sense than anyone in the family, but some other things have taken precedence in her life. Like baking bread.

A few months ago Candice came to visit and gave me a quick run down on how to make bread. I don't know where she got the recipe, but it is very easy and after many failed attempts I have finally achieved consistently delicious bread. Today I found a bread recipe on the back of a bag of flour that included molasses. So I baked bread with molasses in it a few hours ago. Amazing. And my bread usually does not come out with this perfect consistency. But here it is. Thanks Candice.



Christin on the other hand, has never been one to walk the frugality line. Mind you she does buy things on sale when she can, but she seems to have this inner need to have thousand dollar dressers and forty-five dollar salt and pepper shakers (just for one. That's ninety dollars for the set). I know that might not be a lot to some people but in my family it is. Christin saves up money to buy two hundred dollar leather pants that she wore six times. That's just the girl she is.

Living with her the last year, I suppose I have learned to spend money a little better. No more of this saving business (don't stress out mom. We're working on it). One of the great things she introduced me to (besides Crate & Barrel) is Zappos. All of the shoes you could ever want delivered to you free of charge the next day. So today I am sitting here looking at my pretty new shoes, and I really couldn't be happier. Thanks Christin.

And thanks mom and dad for the birthday present.

Americanizing the World One Exchange Student at a Time

Tyler asked me Thursday morning if I would go along for a test drive on the boat he wants to buy. I showed up and for a a little over a half an hour some guy chauffeured me around here on a boat. If only everyday started out so sweet.

My parents met this girl from the Czech Republic on their way back from Prague a few weeks ago. Turns out she is doing an exchange program at ASU. This week I finally caught up with her. Tyler brought over his guns and some of us went up to Four Peaks to go shooting. This is not something that I normally do, but she came half way around the world to hang out with me, I better show her a good time!

I almost ran over the first one but we spotted this one early enough to stop. And all the time I thought Tyler was one of my smart friends . . .

Spending a good portion of my life in Idaho, it seems almost silly to actually go to a shooting range instead of your friend's backyard. Monika (that's her name) had a little harder time grasping the concept of shooting outdoors. "Are we allowed to shoot here? Do you have a license for this? And the police won't come?" were repeated several times on the way and then after arriving there.
But as far shooting, she was definitely not afraid of any of the guns. Maybe those Czech women don't just look mean.
What a sweet car . . . turns out they don't have cars like that in Europe. She was a shocked that you could actually drive with three people in the front!!
I was a little surprised/disappointed when Monika told me they had drive-ins in Prague. However, on the way there it finally hit her what a drive-in was. In her broken english she says, "You mean they project the movies on the screen when you're in your car? I've seen those in the movies!! And the people are always . . . uh . . ."
"Having sex in the back seat?" I say.
"Uh, yeah."
"Don't worry, we will keep our clothes on."

Delicious Brad Burgers at the drive-in.

Everything is Relative

At one time in life I believed that being productive was waking up at six-thirty and being completely occupied until ten-thirty at night.

Today however, I got out of bed about ten-thirty. I ate a piece of toast and then laid out for an hour by the pool and read. I cooked some egg burritos for breakfast and then took a shower. I got some water at Safeway and then stopped briefly at Costco. I even returned our rented movies before returning home feeling very productive. That was my day before dinner.

Everything is relative . . .

Just Another Tequila Sunrise (minus the tequila)

I have done some other cool stuff lately. I was going to blog about it, but at the time I didn't have a blog. Now I feel like it is too late, but whatever. I suppose it wouldn't be much like me to do things on time.

A few weeks ago I went to Albuquerque to do a little bit of work. I was there for three days and then left so that I would be home when my parents came into town. I finished work and was on the road at 10:30 on a Wednesday night, Sept. 10 to be exact. I was about a hundred miles outside of Tucson around one in the morning when I saw this brown historical sign "Grand Canyon 190 miles". Over the next hour I weighed my options in my head. As much as I really wanted to go home, I could see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. And that would be a story!!



So after dismantling a gas station power outlet to charge my phone, a run in with the police (unrelated), a stop at Denny's for some breakfast and pecan pie, I arrived at the Grand Canyon. Turns out that is a very cold part of Arizona. So wrapped in my blanket I watched the sunrise. A nice way to start a day I have to say.