Mexico thanks you my friend

Well, I've given in

2010-05-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've decided to move.

I've had a really great time at blogger, but they just aren't keeping up with my needs.

Hope and I are going to get back on the horse and start writing music in the summer, and tumblr makes it so much easier to share that music with the world.

There aren't a lot of you left at this dusty old blog, but if you'd like to follow me to the new place just click on any of the links in this post.

People just don't write diaries like this anymore. It's a real shame.

2010-05-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

August 8th, 1902 - Commenced the day by being kicked by a mule. Fortunately I have become thoroughly toughened and no serious damage was done.

(From the diary of Albert F. Potter, Federal grazing surveyor)

2010-05-14T21:23:00.001-07:00

a lot of times I'll sing really loud to myself when I'm in a study room on campus (think opera meets mickey mouse), especially when I'm 1) on a role, writing wise, or 2) totally stumped, writing wise. So basically 95% of the time.

A sample of the last few songs:

1. I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
2. Oh I Just Can't Wait To Be King! (Lion King)
3. Random lyrics about whatever I am doing, or thinking about
4. I'm proud to be an American

Oh to be a fly on the wall in my study room.

waiting for some book reviews to print, there is not a better way to use that time

2010-05-12T20:04:00.001-07:00

writing papers when all I really want to do is go sleep in my tent

2010-05-11T16:04:00.001-07:00

or watch a baseball game, or eat a brat, or build a cornhole set and play in our "front yard."

when this semester ends (who knows when), I will be thankful.

2010-04-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

"Nechochwen is signed to Bindrune recordings, home of Wodensthrone, Celestiial, and Blood of the Black Owl, so my expectations were pretty high going into this record."

Has a more ridiculous sentence ever been written?

Art House Director

2010-04-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

trying to stay positive

2010-04-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

sometimes it's hard to stay motivated, and it's hard not to just stop and find a job so I can have time to enjoy life.

Virginia governor: Is it so wrong to love the Old South?

2010-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I really understand the whole "let's remember the Confederacy" thing. Maybe it's because I'm just a Yankee, but it doesn't really make sense to me.

I understand they're remembering the "brave men that fought in the United State's bloodiest war", but if we're going to do that why don't we have an "American Indian Wars" month? Where we remember the men and women who also died fighting an invasive federal government that were attacking their rights of political sovereignty?

Oh right, cause they're not white.

I think the South should also have to publicly acknowledge each community that got kicked off their land so whites could homestead and the build plantations that were the foundation of their gentile "Old South" if they so desperately want to celebrate Jefferson Davis and slavery. ZING!

Virginia governor: Is it so wrong to love the Old South? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Hey Joe Torre!

2010-04-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Why in the world is Vicente Padilla the opening day starter? Why is he considered anything more than a #5? Why is he even on the Dodgers?

I'm not a Communist, really. I guess I am pretty liberal though.

2010-03-31T16:34:00.001-07:00

From Stephen Whitfield's The Culture of the Cold War:

"In a state like Texas, a Communist was more likely to be exotic than dangerous. Its legislature nevertheless made Party membership a felony, for which the punishment could be twenty years' imprisonment. Governor Allan Shivers was reluctant to sign the bill because he disagreed with the penalty, which he thought should be death."

You Texans don't really get a fair shake sometimes... then again, sometimes "ya'll" are crazy!

a man out of time, my non-existent past

2010-03-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Music is coming

2010-03-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Get ready for a summer of music.

Just need to get through the next month and a half.

Any requests for the lovely Hope Glenn?

We've got some pretty good ideas brewing.

also, if you play any of the following instruments please consider recording music with us in the summer: drums, guitar, harmonica, piano, horns, strings.

234 years ago

2010-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

The world was a very different place 234 years ago. So much so, I would argue (and have continuously argued with one Halen Seevinck), that if you were plopped in to the world two centuries ago you would not be able to function for more than one hour.

Could you play a DVD with a reel to reel? How quickly can you write a term paper with a quill and ink? Can anyone who reads this blog skin a rabbit?

Health insurance was not a phrase that was ever muttered in the 18th century!

Would it make sense to continue dialing with your rotary phone and expect your cell phone to make the call? Think about that in terms of legislation.

The world belongs to the people who live in it now. It's our job to take care of it, and try to make it better for the people who come after us. It should go without saying that we also need to take care of the people who are currently in it.

If this country had always made decisions about it's present based solely on the ideas of people from the past we would live in a ridiculous place.

By the way, I love Jesus still.

Sincerely,
Tim

P.S. The Cold War ended 20 years ago. It's OK to use legislation and taxes on internal improvements now.

This Land is Your Land - Woody...

My wife gets bored at work when I don't blog

2010-03-09T10:48:00.001-08:00

But what am I supposed to say besides "I'm in school and working a lot"?

Going to a conference tomorrow, that'll be as grand as a grand slam (Dennys not baseball).

unashamed

2010-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I am a Kevin Costner fan, I don't care who knows it. I need to watch Field of Dreams. TONIGHT!

Also, I need a Terrence Mann hat. Although, it wouldn't look nearly as cool on me cause I'm not James Earl Jones.

People will come. People will come.

song of the day

2010-01-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

Someone to Watch Over Me - Sta...

By the way, do you people use lala?

It's pretty great for things like this, and it's free.

I'm getting really geeked up about this

2010-01-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

Environmental History and National Parks workshop.

oh to be young and on a month to month lease

2010-01-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

We keep finding ourselves looking at houses for sale. We don't really have the money for a down payment, so it's all in fun, but I really want to buy one. We're just wasting our money on rent...

2009-12-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

Jason Chaffetz drives me absolutely crazy.
What's worse is that he actually does represent the views of the majority of his constituents.
Makes me want to drive a fork in my eyeball.

Historical Gold again, or, all I write about now are nerdy history stories that I find funny

2009-12-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

Found in the journal of John C. Dowdle, a prominent farmer and member of the LDS faith in cache county in the 19th century:

"I am preparing a letter to President Woodruff, asking for some help on our new meeting house... our neighbor Niels Anderson came with a four gallon keg of beer to fullfill [sic] an agreement that he had previously made, that is he got a plough as a premium at the county fair he would put up the beer. So we had a splendid time."

Irony of direct correspondence to the president + Best description of a keg party ever = a much needed smile after hours of reading his boring journal and awful spelling.

"So we had a splendid time"

19th century science

2009-12-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Directly from 1881:

"Preston has a face remarkably endowed with strength and decision of character. He has, indeed, the true leonine face. The head is very large, which phrenologically signifies great mental capacity, combined with immense character-force; for it will also be noticed that he has a powerful structure of the body, with ample shoulders and a capacious chest."

Next time you want to compliment me, just tell me my chest is capacious.

man, I'm a nerd

It's been a long time since I worked at Musician's Friend

2009-12-02T09:42:00.001-08:00

I'm thinking of buying some home recording equipment for next summer (it falls in to a master plan) but I'm afraid I have forgotten everything I once new about music equipment.

I wish I would have frivolously spent money on stuff FROM Musician's Friend when I worked FOR Musician's Friend.

Never can say regret, or goodbye (according to the Jackson Five).

They won me over in a matter of minutes

2009-11-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

Pearl and the Beard

This will be your new favorite band.

Well said Shane Claiborne

2009-11-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

I agree

stupid speeding tickets

2009-11-19T10:30:00.001-08:00

"Be it remembered on this 21st day of July 1887, James T. Kescel, City Marshall, filed in court his complaint charging the defendant, Thomas Mitchell, with the crime of riding a horse through the streets of Park City faster than a rate of six miles per hour.

The Defendant was arranged and the complaint read to him, and he waived further time to plead, entered a plea of "Guilty" as charged in the complaint.

Whereupon the court imposed a fine of ($5.00) upon the defendant, which was paid."

The life I chose

2009-11-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

2009-11-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

dum, dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum, wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow. Chains, keep us together.

Google Wave

2009-11-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

I now have google wave. If you have, tell me so we can wave!

talk about a mind warp

2009-11-09T11:55:00.001-08:00

I'm reading something that was written around 1940 and the author keeps talking about the "sixties" and "eighties" the same way we would today.

Dude is talking about the 1860's and 1880's!

Weird.

the flu

2009-11-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

not so fun to stay inside for 7 straight days.

the minstrel roots of country

2009-10-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

I had to listen to this for my history of communications class. Pretty interesting, and some pretty good tunes.

report, no mention of historical grazing

2009-10-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've typed that almost 200 times now. Will the madness never end?

Two different ears

2009-10-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

My older sister and I are some sort of genetic mutants. We both have two different ears. We each have one of each of our parents ears, i.e. one of my dad's ears and one of my mom's ears (later in life I realized that I have one of each of my parents thumbs too, a hitchhiker and a non-hitchhiker, but that's besides the point). For all our lives we have been the freaks of the family, the weirdo's with two ears.

but not anymore.

Beth just had a baby. His name is Hayden. He's pretty much the coolest baby around, I know this without even having met him yet. How do I know? Because he also has two different ears. He has become the third musketeer, amigo, mutant.

Welcome Hayden, welcome.

(I hope my kids also come out with two ears)

I love LA, or apparently all I do is post videos now

2009-10-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

it may be time to watch this movie again

2009-10-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

we gotta get this mirror out of our living room

2009-10-06T11:55:00.001-07:00

I keep staring at myself, making faces, dancing, and beat boxing.

I don't think it's healthy.

Blorg!

2009-09-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

So

Much

Reading!

(in all truthfulness, it's not really bothering me as much as I thought it would. A good attitude abounds.)

school diddly

2009-09-01T07:12:00.001-07:00

It has started, and the reading has commenced.

thesis and antithesis create synthesis.

The Atlantic World, you know, West Indies, Newfoundland, New England, those types of things.

The kindle has come in handy, it's going to be very nice, love the definition feature.

Utes game Thursday w/ the wife, good times.

still cool

2009-08-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is how I get ready for my first day on the job

2009-08-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

yes, sometimes I am that awesome

I should have known, I should have known

2009-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Every now and again I come across a musician that I should have been listening to 8 or 9 years ago, and then immediately feel like an idiot. Mavis Staples, I apologize for overlooking you.

Also, why do I think this video is so funny? Probably cause it is.

Come on! Someone has to be willing to do this with me!

2009-07-29T13:22:00.001-07:00

I really want to buy section f tickets for this upcoming utes basketball season.

I know someone out there will want to buy some with me, someone is out there.

Read about section f here and tell me you're in!

Monsters of Folk on tour

2009-07-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

I am going to be really tempted to take a road trip for this one.

What to do?!

Oh, to be a wealthy republican! (it's just an expression)

say please

The Fatherland

2009-07-21T12:24:00.001-07:00

There are days, the majority of them really, that I dream of getting a job in Berlin (or anywhere in Germany) and living there for 2-3 years.

If anyone hears of any english speaking environmental jobs, be sure to tell me.

Really?

2009-07-20T13:05:00.001-07:00

Jason Schmidt is getting the start tonight. Really? Really? This'll be a treat.

As an aside, to all you Giants (and four-legged Cubs) fans out there who can't get enough of this Tim Lincecum character, Clayton Kershaw is 5-0 with a .063 ERA in his last seven starts, and is only getting better. Not to mention our guy is 4 years younger than yours. Although I will hand it to you, your guy is a freak pitcher, and that release really is crazy.

As an aside to the aside, Mr. Lincecum was born only two days before me. This begs the question, did I miss out on becoming a millionaire, Cy Young award winning pitcher (for a crappy team mind you) by only two days? I guess that really gets down to the question of whether or not you believe in some sort of ancient "you were born on this day so you will be a potter" type of destiny.

As an aside to the aside to the aside, I made that whole potter thing up, it's bunk.

Let me also just preface this whole blog with a preface, I'm not the kind of guy who likes to put all of my eggs in to one basket.

Let me also preface that preface with a preface, I am not referring to Harry Potter (got another!)

(indeed, I understand that the whole "preface" at the end of a blog is incorrect, deal with it)

and just for good measure, a picture of me:

popeye drinks a sky blue sky

2009-07-15T14:39:00.001-07:00

you can make up your own english lyrics to songs sung in Russian?

I got a position as a research assistant at the american west center. Bottom line is that it pays my tuition, and gives me a decent stipend.

Hope leaves town this weekend for sunny orlando florida, and I want to hike a mountain while she's gone.

I think I want to join some kind of sports league, anyone know of any?

2009-07-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Beth I hope you know what you've done to me

2009-06-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a text book, a scholarly piece of literature with citations, and proof, and everything. It's talking about the huge populations of natives in America that existed in the 16th century and had been vastly depleted by the 18th century. The author states the following about "Old World" diseases:

"No other factor seems capable of having exterminated so many people over such a large part of North America"

My immediate reaction to this statement was:

"unless it was aliens".

All credit goes to my older sister who's fascination with aliens as a child has somewhat scarred me for life.

2009-06-28T08:50:00.001-07:00

I don't want to sound like I'm totally in to myself or anything, but before it was broken I had the perfect nose

Joe Pug, In the Meantime EP

2009-06-27T11:14:00.001-07:00

Go download this EP from his website, it's free, and it's good. While you're at it, get his previous (better) EP, Nation of Heat.

Let the music play on! (play on, play on)

2009-06-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

In his song "All Night Long", Mr. Lionel Richie declares we are going to "party, karamu, fiesta, forever" and also requests that you "feel it in your heart, and feel it in your soul, let the music take control".

I contend that when this song is playing, it is impossible for anyone to do anything but.

I bet if you clicked on the link above, you're already bobbing your head, it won't be long now...

The Magical Moving Miso

2009-06-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

The way I see it

2009-06-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Roots band = The E street band

both are equally as cool as the other.

Too bad we missed out!

2009-06-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

Mark your calendars for Utah Naked Hiking Day next year!

This was fun...

2009-06-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

check

2009-06-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

Just finished Aldo Leopold's "A Sandy County Almanac".

Loved it.

Leopold was a conservationist in the first half of the 20th century. He worked for the Forest Service, founded the Wilderness Society, and had a big part in the creation of numerous wilderness areas across the country.

His views on land, nature, conservation, and the environment are still surprisingly relevant today, despite the fact this book was written in the late 30's-early 40's. I can tell I'll probably read the last third of the book three or four times just so I can soak up everything he is saying.

He had a great understanding of the importance of wilderness conservation, and that understanding combined with his love for the wild really created an incredible book. I recommend it to anyone interested in environmental literature, in fact, it's a must read in my mind.

I will forever make Bruce Springsteen posts until you finally admit that he is awesome...

2009-06-03T10:06:00.001-07:00

This is for Hope and Chad, and anyone else who will one day tell me that Bruce Springsteen is not, indeed, the boss.

Ron Coleman

2009-05-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

He's a professor at the University of Utah, in the history department. Easily one of the coolest people I know.

14!?

2009-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

I just found out about 14 books that are required for 1 of my classes in the fall.

I'm taking a total of 3 classes.

Does this mean I have to read 42 books?

Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected.

2009-05-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is a speech delivered to the graduating students at the University of Portland by Paul Hawken, an author, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Wiser Earth. It's brilliant. I normally don't like to make enormous blog posts, but this deserves an exception. If you have 5 minutes, seriously, read this speech. Absolutely brilliant.

Commencement Address to the Class of 2009
University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.

But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not onepeer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement.

Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food – but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn’t afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.

Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown – Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood – and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non-governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled inhistory.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe – exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

the real question is...

2009-05-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

How in the world can I figure out a way to get one of these without paying for it? Cause I really really want one.

Also, hint, these are pretty cool.

love this

2009-05-19T08:09:00.001-07:00

L to the ink

southern utah

2009-05-14T07:32:00.001-07:00

It's amazing how much politics are about the personal gains of politicians.

The Department of the Interior is bringing all kinds of money in to the state, just not to "right" people I guess.

donut shmonut (yes, that is intentional)

2009-05-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

I hate it when you convince yourself it's ok to buy a donut today, then you walk downstairs and some lady from "legal" already bought them all... what the hell is "legal" anyway, sounds like a scam to me.

summer cut

2009-05-04T18:10:00.001-07:00

What is it about old people who have gone back to get their degree?

2009-04-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

I'm probably participating in age discrimination with this post :)

but why do they have to make EVERYTHING so difficult!?!

well that was weird

2009-04-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

I just registered for school for the first time in a while.

Am I really ready to do this again?

Global Environmental History
Prosem: US History to 1877
Historical Methods

"what is that awful sound?"

2009-04-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

If you've been within 30 feet of me in the last week or so you may have asked yourself that questions. That's because all week long, perhaps because the spring season, or rain, or twitterpation, the back of my throat has been itching like crazy!

I've been trying to manually fix the problem by doing my best "rock grinding asphalt" sound.

My body has also been doing its part by sneezing at a rate that could probably solve the nations energy crisis (speaking of, I thought of a pretty incredible idea involving lava today, you know, liquid hot magma, the blood of the earth, the molten rock that just screams "I am energy, I am energy, look at meee!", but that's another day, another blog, another millennium probably. I'm practically nostradomus over here).

Bottom line, the earth (back to my allergies, get your mind off lava) is trying to turn my face in to a red, itchy, sneezy, watery mess.

I need captain planet. What's his power again? Whatever it is, I bet these kids don't have allergies.

Now this is just funny

2009-04-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

University of Utah football team, 1905

sometimes I bring my computer to work

2009-04-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

and post pictures of myself for no apparent reason.

I can sort of understand why a lot of people who work here often comment on my somewhat sloppy attire.

The other day someone told me that when I leave someone will have some big sneakers to fill.

anyone else get accosted by professors on a regular basis?

2009-04-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

It happens to me all the time.

I can't really complain too much, this job is awesome.

But when they accuse you of messing something up with such fire, and passion, when in actuality you had nothing to do with it, it's a little frustrating.

What's more frustrating is when you hold your ground, and confront them with a "I had nothing to do with that", they never apologize. They just pretend the previous 2 minutes never happened. It's like an instant calm comes over them, and they have no regrets, and seemingly no memory, of yelling at you for no reason.

Opening Day Sucka!

2009-04-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats

2009-04-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

What a great song. I snuck in to his show when he played at the U ballroom. I loved it.

Do I even need a title?

2009-03-27T10:19:00.001-07:00

Good Job House

2009-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

A bill passed that set aside a huge portion of land as wilderness areas in Southern Utah, but still allowed for the sale of land so St. George can continue to expand. Good compromise for both sides. SL Trib article if you want to read about it.

early lessons

2009-03-25T12:02:00.001-07:00

as I'm coming to find out from current grad students in the department, hiding from the professors on my committee is something I will want to master early...

back from Texas, and I still have a mustache

2009-03-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

I made it out of Texas alive, and with the mustache intact.

We had a great time, Hopes family is great. The family party went off without a hitch, well, besides my sinus infection that tried to throw me completely off (teeth bleeding and all).

Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so you're going to have to imagine everything...

We dug through clothes, we ate good steak, we slept in, and ate in the very same restaurant that Bill Clinton had.

Good times.

Although Hope's brother now thinks I'm fat and I have a lisp. Huh?

Tomorrow

2009-03-12T09:00:00.001-07:00

Heading to Texas tomorrow to meet the extended family. Mustache, leftover cold, and all.

Can't stop progress, train tracks and smoke stacks.

Hooray for Mannywood!

2009-03-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

la la la la la la la Mannywood!

internal screaming

2009-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, just sometimes, there are people at your work that are so high strung you want to just scream, really loud, and slam their office door in their face.

Unfortunately when this happens I'm forced to yell at them in my head, and just complain to my wife about it later.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Straw Wars

2009-02-26T12:50:00.000-08:00

Free Cupcakes and Dodgers

2009-02-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

There are a few professors at work who like me enough to give me stuff. Today it was cupcakes.

In other news, the Dodgers are courting Manny again. I think it's going to get done this time, mostly because where else is the guy going to go, the nationals? Please.

The thought of Jason Schmidt fighting for a spot in the rotation is scary, however.

excerpts from the history department

2009-02-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

Scene: A couple of faculty members hanging out in the main office, one of them is working hard at my coworkers desk.

Faculty 1: "hey, how come you're spending so much time working in here?"

Faculty 2: "well, I really just like to sit and admire Tim's figure and profile. He's got a Roman, Greco, Oriental, Mountain Man..."

Faculty 3: "he's got way too much hair to be Roman, he's a Greco!"

Where else do conversations like this happen?

I love it when you listen to Iron & Wine all day and realize just how freaking good it still is...

2009-02-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

Grad School

2009-02-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

I have been accepted. Yesssssss

FREE TV

2009-02-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

People,

We have a TV, it's in our living room, it's not too old, not incredibly new, but it's at least a flat screen. We don't need it anymore. It's just sitting there. Do you want it?

We want to give it away. We don't care about selling it, we don't want money for it, we just want to give it. However, we don't just want to leave it at the D.I.

Any takers? Or at least suggestions?

PLEASE!

To all of you who said I was crazy

2009-02-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

It does exist:

Velveteen Rabbit

transparency

2009-02-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

recovery.gov

February 17th 2009

2009-02-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

As of today Colorado is still a great place to visit, with great people to see and hang out with.

She still smiles like this

2009-02-14T18:07:00.000-08:00

Environment

2009-02-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

In preparation of starting grad school in the fall (I haven't been accepted yet, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get a head start) I've begun reading books on the topic of Environmental History. I haven't decided exactly what I would like to research during my MA yet, but I know it's going to have something to do with the National Parks Service and the Environment.

I think I'd like to write my thesis on the Office of International Affairs within the National Parks Service. They have had relationships with numerous countries across the world in building and running National Parks. I'm interested specifically in their relationship with Germany, because I love the Germans, and also South Africa, because of the number of National Parks they have. To date I haven't found anything that has been written on either subject yet, but never say never right? (Speaking of did anyone see Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman last night? Yikes!). I'm sort of leaning towards South Africa because I think there could be a really cool story in that relationship, but Germany has a lot of benefits as well.

The last book I read was about the existence of poaching, squatting, and timber stealing under conservation in 19th century America. It was a really interesting book. I'm pretty excited to spend a couple years researching just one topic, and seeing what I can do with it.

It's time to start driving to some more National Parks.

Word.

Oh the humanity!

2009-02-12T11:26:00.001-08:00

she broke her nail!

Utes, tonight, be there

2009-02-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

Bruce is going to be at Bonaroo

2009-02-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

I need to see him before he gets too old.

your heart is true

2009-01-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

free breakfast

2009-01-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

it's a beautiful thing.

working with people that you enjoy talking to and listening to is also very nice.

I'm in charge of dinner tonight

2009-01-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

I don't really know what to make.

Further, I have no further on that matter...

I want a nap. I missed Lost. My boss just bought me some chai tea. I have a bad habit of trying to read two books at once. I'm staring at women's hair today without realizing it... I'm not weird, there is context, just not available on the internet, you have to buy it in stores, usually released on Tuesdays, I will not let you pirate my context!

How does one get in to the business of doing voice over work?

I need an agent.

and now we wait

2009-01-21T07:58:00.001-08:00

the grad application is complete and in the hands of the powers that be.

I'm starting to get really excited about this

2009-01-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for Spike Jonze to get done with Where the Wild Things Are for a few years now. Seriously, years. But after seeing these I've realized that I was a fool for ever doubting that it was going to be incredible... take as much time as you need Spike, take as much time as you need.

More at imdb