I'm noticing a severe lack of trembling and awe in my presence

Since I've written, I have done much. To further expand on the title of the last blog entry, Something Under the Sink is Drooling, when I came back to my apartment after being gone for 6 days, I realized that I forgot to take out the garbage before I left. Long story short, I quickly went out and bought scented candles and some Febreeze. One would think that my friend Pinky would have helped me out, but he's a lazy little rodent, so no help there. When I got home on Saturday night, he kept blathering on about there not being enough pants for everyone in the world. It was kind of an interesting idea. He took the position that since there were not enough pants for everyone, that no one should have them. That would save quite a bit of fabric, thus enabling everyone to be able to have a good pair of Bermuda shorts in their wardrobe. He hypothesized that if we all wore Bermuda shorts, conflict in the world would end because we'd all have an overwhelming urge to go to the beach and drink Mai Tais. Interesting Pinky. Interesting.

Anyway, the 4 day trip I just got done with was a blast. My captain was a younger guy and really cool. We went to places like Twin Falls, Pocatello, and Sun Valley, which are all in Idaho, and we also went to Casper, WY. Of course we also came back to Salt Lake. In Twin Falls the Snake River cuts a huge gorge on the north side of town, so my captain and I walked down there. There's a huge bridge across it that people go base jumping off of all the time. Very pretty. Sun Valley airport is absolutly nuts, because it's surrounded on three sides by mountains. Very close mountains. Thankfully when we went it was a nice day, but from what I hear, when the weather's bad, you have to bring a clean pair of underwear for after you land cause it's so scary. When we were in Sun Valley, we had a passenger who must have been on drugs. She was walking towards the aircraft and I pointed her out to the captain. She looked about as out of it as you possibly could be. Her belt wasn't buckled, her fly was down, she was barely holding on to the bag that she was carrying. It was kinda sad. She didn't cause any problems on the plane though, so whatever I guess.

I have a three day weekend starting today, so Ben, Alison, perhaps Kelly and Julie and I are going backpacking. Not sure where yet, but it should be sweet.

On another note, I biked so hard the other day I threw up. Oo Ra! Ben and I were going up a very steep canyon, and I had to pull off. Walked around for about 30 seconds, then honked. Good times. I've joined the ranks of Casey. Anyway, I'll post pictures of the adventure, where ever we go, after the weekend!

Something under the sink is drooling...

Well it's been awhile, so I'll start off with last weekend. Mom and Dad came down which was alot of fun. They came down on Friday morning, and we went and toured the town a little and saw a couple of the canyons in the mountains that are just outside of town. Had lunch, then checked the 'rents into their hotel. Saturday we went and toured Temple Square, the heart of the Mormon religion. I've been there before, but the whole experience is rather weird. They have a 12 foot wall around the whole thing, but everyone inside is very friendly. Non-mormons are not allowed inside the temple itself, but the grounds are very pretty so that took up a little time. We went to eat and in the afternoon joined with my friends Alison, Ben and Julie and went to Park City. We walked around old downtown for awhile, looking at the shops and such. We had dinner at the Wasatch Brewery, which, like the name implies, brews its own beer. It's a place that I've been to before and is quite good. On Sunday Mom and Dad tried to fly back home and I went on a bike ride with Ben. We biked up Emigration Canyon which is one of the easier canyons to ride. (Not as much elevation change and such.) My muscles weren't doing too bad, though I couldn't feel my lungs by about halfway through! I gotta get more used to the altitude. Salt Lake sits at about 4,000 feet above sea level, so it's a little higher! When we got back from the ride, dad called to let me know that they had not gotten on the last flight leaving for St. Paul and were going to have to stay the night. They did however, end up getting on the first flight out the next morning.

On Monday I got a call from scheduling to let me know that they had placed a trip on my schedule. Woohoo! I get to fly! It was back in the California system, and I spent three days flying into LA, San Diego, Yuma AZ, Palm Springs and a couple others. On Thursday, I flew back to SLC and got on a plane to go home to St. Paul right after that. Friday and Saturday were spent seeing some friends whom I haven't seen in awhile, and eating home cooked food. As promised, I will post some pictures of the apartment, flying, and the SLC area.

I shot this horse three days ago...I believe it's starting to turn...

Not too much has been going on the last couple of days, I've been on reserve again since Sunday, but alas, they have not called. Oh well, it's given me a chance to get errands done and come to the conclusion that I'll be sleeping on an inflatable mattress for the rest of my life and have no living room furniture. It could be worse though I suppose. I could have no internet. That would be bad. Very bad. It would leave me alone with my own thoughts days in and day out, pondering. It'd probably result in my coming up with an imaginary friend named Pinky. We'd have such wonderful conversations, Pinky and I, but Pinky, not being the sharpest tool in the shed, would never be pondering what I'm pondering. I can see the conversation now, "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" "I think so, but where are we going to find a mallard and a spoon at this time of night?" .....Sorry. That was weird.

In all seriousness though, my road bike that I had shipped here is coming tomorrow, yay! I've had it shipped to Ben and Al's place cause Ben is the one that has the tools to put it back together anyway. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I went to the SLC Public Library today to get a library card. The downtown library is very nice, open with lots of glass. The one thing I didn't like was all the B.O. and the teenagers. I have never witnessed a place where so many people congregated at the same time that all needed a severe slathering of Old Spice. It was like I was on the Sarenghetti amid a herd of wildebeest in the sweltering noonday sun. What I wouldn't have given for an economy size bottle of Febreeze. Then the drama of teenage girls. Oh. My. God. There were a few of them there, who took it upon themselves to gossip loudly enough as to inform the rest of the patrons of the library who among their group of friends was doing what with whom. "John called me fat yesterday!" "You are sooooo not fat!" "I know! It's a gland thing!" (At this point she's shoving a twinkie in her mouth. I kid you not.) "John is just being stupid anyway." "I know. Boys are so stupid." As you can imagine, I'm glad I'm not in jr. high anymore. Praise the lord.

Anyway, not too much else planned on the schedule for this week. Planning on taking that bike out for a tour tomorrow, which will be sweet. Mom and Dad are taking advantage of the reduced price tickets that come as a perk with my job and are coming to see me over Friday and Saturday. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm sure I can some up with something. Until then, I'll be content to converse with Pinky . I'll leave you today with a line from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jack Sparrow: No! Not good! Stop! Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade... the rum!
Elizabeth Swan: Yes, the rum is gone.
Jack Sparrow: Why is the rum gone?
Elizabeth Swan: One: because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two: that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for me, do you think there is even the slightest chance they wont see it?
Jack Sparrow: But why is the rum gone?

In the city of the Mormons

Hey all - Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I did mean to post something last Thursday, but I forgot to actaully post it. It is now posted following this one. Anyway, the last few days have been kinda a rush. Got into SLC on Wednesday, and stayed in a hotel for the night. Met up with Ben and Alison that day and just hung out. I couldn't get into my apartment until Friday at 3 so I didn't have alot to those first few days. Kelly and Julie Paasch (Two more of our mutual friends from back in the UND days who live here now, Kelly works for SkyWest too) offered their couch to me on Thursday night which I took. Friday after I moved in I got on a plane back to St. Paul to pack up some stuff (I didn't get as much packed as I'd like, but oh well) to get down to Salt Lake City. Returned to Salt Lake on Saturday night and hung out with Ben and Alison again. Sunday after Ben, Al, Kelly and Julie got back from church we went rock climbing. I'm not really one for that, but it was a small rock, not that tall, so I decided to give it a shot. It was pretty fun, but you still won't catch me on that big stuff. Today I'm running errands, getting internet for my apartment (I'm at the downtown SLC library right now) getting my mail forwarded, changing my address for bills, etc, etc, etc. Good times. I'll be glad when all this moving mess is done with and I can actually call this place a home. It'll happen eventually!

Sorry this is late

Well, this will be my last day in Fresno. HAZA! They've actually been keeping me pretty busy these last few days, which was nice, cause it got me out of the house for awhile. I found a place to live in Salt Lake last time I was there. It was a nice, kinda smaller one bedroom place in downtown Salt Lake, in a nice part of town. The address is 43 South 300 East. I think. It's something like that. I'll get you the definite address when I get there. But you can google that address to kinda see the general area. Anyway, the apartment isn't the biggest thing ever, but it'll do. The kitchen is quite small, but it does have a gas stove, which is kinda nice, cause I much prefer that to electric. It also has radiators for heating which will be alot cheaper during the winter than electric baseboard heating. Tim (my old roommate from college) and I had a place with that back up in Grand Forks and the heating bill was like $200 a month for electric! Can't afford that! It's an older, historic building, just off of a neighborhood called the Avenues in Salt Lake. The Avenues is kinda middle-upscale area that's called the Avenues because the north/south streets are letters (A Street, B Street, etc.) and all the east/west roads are numbered. (1st. Ave, 2nd Ave, etc.) Anyway, I move in on Thursday, and I'm driving over tomorrow. It should take about 10-12 hours to get there, but I plan on leaving first thing in the morning. Getting the hell outta this city! I'll post more on the move and then some pictures when I get them up!