Nate and Angie's Place

Elliot's Blessing

2010-11-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Since we had family in town for Thanksgiving and a family Christmas party, we decided to bless Elliot yesterday, November 28, 2010. It wasn't fast sunday like they are most often done on, but it doesn't really matter what day you do it on. Another reason for doing it yesterday was that Nate's sister and bro-in-law, Christine and Dave, are blessing their baby girl Elizabeth next Sunday. We didn't want them on the same day. So we did it a week before. Anyway, Nate was so nervous to give the blessing. He was really excited to be able to do that, but so nervous. He did great and the blessing was beautiful. I'm so grateful that Nate was able to bless our little boy. He has brought so much joy to our lives and we are so glad to have him here with us. We love you Elliot and so does all of your family.

Elliot Burton Unck

2010-10-13T15:07:00.000-06:00

Our little boy Elliot Burton Unck made his appearance Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 3:19 pm. Weighing 6 lbs 2.9 oz and 19 inches long. You can go here for the story http://liferamblingsbyangie.blogspot.com/2010/10/welcome-baby-elliot.html.

Welcome baby boy, we love you so much!

Baby's Room

2010-09-21T21:27:00.000-06:00

So it took us about a month to do, but the baby's room is now completed and ready for when our little dude decides to make his appearance. Below are some of the pics from beginning to end of the process.

Before

Nate measuring and marking where to place the tape for the squares

We used construction paper to lay out the design on the wall

Most of the squares painted

Tape removed

All Done!!

Baby names

2010-07-17T14:39:00.000-06:00

Nate and I have been struggling with deciding on a name for our baby boy. I know we have a few more months, but I would at least like to have a couple choices that we like when he is born. I would feel a little less stressed out if we did. The problem is, everything I come up with, Nate knew someone he didn't like with that name, or he thinks of too many mean names that kids would come up with to call him, or he just doesn't like it. And names that Nate has come up with so far, I just don't like, or I feel like they are too popular. We would like something in between, not too popular, but not too unique that people raise their eyebrows. Aargh! It is so frustrating. Why do boy names have to be so much harder than girl names! We had a few of those easy that we really liked. But boys names are a complete struggle for us. So I am putting it out there for you guys. What do you think? What are some ideas for boy names? And remember, any name that begins with an "F" is automatically ruled out! And absolutely no juniors!!!!!

Check it out

2010-07-08T14:55:00.002-06:00

For some of our latest adventures, check out this post:

http://liferamblingsbyangie.blogspot.com/2010/07/mind-jumble.html

It's a Boy!!!!!

2010-05-01T10:37:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right! We are having a boy! I kind of freaked out at first. We haven't been able to decide on any boys names yet and I had a dream the other night that we were having a boy and still couldn't decided on a name after he was born so everyone started calling him Junior! I hate juniors! None of my kids will ever be called junior. So in my dream I was very upset and freaking out. So when we found out it was a boy, I started to panic a little bit. But it's okay. I know we will find a name. We have until October to decide. Nate is really excited to be having a boy, and surprisingly, I am too! The ultrasound was really fun. At first he didn't want to be bothered at all! every time the technician would try to get a good frontal view, he would turn the other way. It was hilarious! And then it seemed like he just gave in and let the world know! Then at the end, he put his hand up in front of his face as if to say "Okay, that is enough! Leave me alone!" It was so cute! He is definitely a wiggle worm that is for certain!

5 Days!!!!

2010-04-25T11:03:00.000-06:00

In 5 days, Friday April 30th we have an ultrasound scheduled to find out if we are having a boy or girl! I am so excited I can't wait! I used to want only boys, I didn't want to deal with girl mood swings. I have enough of that of my own to deal with. But as time has gone on, I have found myself leaning more towards wanting a girl. Several things have factored into this I think. One, there are no girls on either side of the family yet. And on my mom's side, there are 6 great-grandkids and they are all boys! So a girl would be great, she would be really spoiled which would mean less things that Nate and I would have to buy for a girl! Also, I would LOVE to be able to do her hair when it got long enough to do stuff with. I love doing mine fun ways and I would love to do that with my child too. Another thing that has us leaning more towards wanting a girl, is that we have 2 really cute girl names picked out that we really like, but we just can't seem to decide on ANY boy names that we like. So in the naming department, it would be so much easier if we are having a girl. But mostly, I just want a healthy baby. I would be equally happy with a boy too. Hopefully we can decide on some boy names if that ends up being the case. So since we find out this week (hopefully Little Bean cooperates and we can see if it is a boy or girl), I thought it would be fun to take a poll on what people think it is going to be. So feel free to leave a comment about your vote and to vote on the poll to the side of this post. Crossing my fingers for Friday and I will let you all know when we find out!

Annoyed!!!!

2010-04-21T19:27:00.000-06:00

Check out my latest post on my personal blog:

http://liferamblingsbyangie.blogspot.com/2010/04/annoyed.html

-Angie

Pregnancy update

2010-04-01T10:09:00.000-06:00

So today marks the completion of my first trimester! Wow, that went faster than I thought it would. Only 190 more days to go. Things have been going pretty good. I haven't been sick too much. I do have a harder time getting started in the morning. I find I have to take my time and eat something RIGHT when I get up or I get sick. Especially if I didn't get much sleep. Mostly if I feel sick at all it is in the evenings and mornings, but there have been a few days when the sick lasted all day. I have noticed however, that there isn't anything specific that will make me sick, other than not eating. My gag reflex has always been sensitive, but it has gotten so much worse with pregnancy. I could be sitting there just fine, and all the sudden I'll be running for the bathroom, or reaching for a saltine. It isn't even any distinct smells setting it off, just so completely random. I have noticed though that this past week it has been happening considerably less. Hopefully that is a good sign heading into my second trimester. As far as cravings have been so far, mostly I crave fruity stuff. Anything fruit flavored, drinks, candy, smoothies :), fruit itself. And my desire for chocolate has greatly decreased. If given a choice between something fruit flavored and something chocolate, I'll take the fruit flavor instead. Totally different than what I would usually do. It has always been CHOCOLATE for me before. Also, the thought and sight of chicken repulses me. Not to the point where I throw up or anything like that, but just that I would almost rather eat dirt than chicken. Weird! I have my next doctor's appointment on Monday. I feel like everything has been going really well, so hopefully that appointment can definitely reaffirm that. I still feel a little paranoid about things. At my last appointment my doctor told us that we can pay an extra $25 at 16 weeks and get an ultrasound to see the gender of our baby. Or we could wait until the 20 week appt and get in then, that one we wouldn't have to pay for, it would be covered by our insurance. So now the question is this. Do we pay the $25 and see if we can find out in a month if it is a boy or girl, or do we wait 2 months and find out and not have to pay the extra money? I don't want to pay and than it not be clear enough to see anything and than still have to wait another month. But on the other hand, if we can see what it is than that is an extra month knowing what we are having and being able to plan accordingly. What are all your thoughts on that?

Celebrations

2010-03-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

Nate's birthday was on the 2nd of February. We celebrated by having a birthday dinner at his parent's house that night. Geez, it was about a month ago so I don't remember what we ate, but we had fun and Nate opened his gifts from his family. His parent's gave him tickets to go see a night of the Symphony. There was actually 2 tickets so I got to go too! Yay!!! He also got some candy and popcorn and Apple Beer from his sisters. I had purposefully forgot the gift I was giving him because I wanted him to open it at home with just us. When we got home I had his gift waiting for him all wrapped up sitting on his pillow. I was soooo excited for him to open it, but still kind of nervous on what he would think about getting this gift for his birthday. This is what I got him......

That's right, I'm pregnant! He was really excited about the news and didn't mind getting a present that wasn't completely for him. I have been really anxious and paranoid about everything with this pregnancy due to having a miscarriage a few months ago. I've probably been driving Nate crazy with how paranoid I've been. I didn't even want to tell our families until after seeing the doctor. But he convinced me to at least tell the family. For my family, we decided to tell them the sunday after Nate's birthday when we were having his birthday dinner with my family. So I asked if I could bring dessert instead of my mom making the cake. So I made cupcakes and I found these really cool food coloring markers that you can write and draw right on the frosting with. I decorated some cupcakes with baby-type images, you know, blocks, binky, rubber ducky,etc. Than on some I put the letters spelling out BABY, and on some it spelled out the estimated due date, which is October 8 2010. Of course everyone is really excited.

Today was our first doctor's appointment. I was so excited and anxious that I hardly slept last night. We got to see our baby for the first time and hear it's heartbeat. Amazing! Nate, of course, being the comedian he is made the doctor laugh with his comment of "Look, you're having a dolphin!" He was referring to the sound of the heartbeat. I honestly would have been surprised if Nate hadn't made some sort of comment along those lines! Here are our little bean's first baby pictures.......

Between the 2 little horizontal lines is the heart beating! Awesome!

Happy 1st Birthday Cosmo!

2010-01-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Cosmo turned 1 year old today! Which I guess they say in dog years equals approximately 7 years, but he definitely doesn't act like a 7 year old, more like a 2 year old. Anyway. I just wanted to post some pics looking back on his first year. He has gotten so big! Even though he can be quite a handful at times, we love him and are so happy we have him.

Thanksgiving Film...

2009-11-23T02:50:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Mr. Fox Rated PG for slapstick cartoon violence and mild rude humor.

10 out of 10

A lot of people have been asking me over the past couple of weeks which film they should go see over the Thanksgiving holiday break. Even though New Moon, The Blind Side and A Christmas Carol are all out in theaters now, my reply has been this: You have to see Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-animation film based on the book of the same name written by the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author, Roald Dahl and is directed by one of my personal favorite directors, Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Darjeeling Ltd.)

The story focuses on Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney in what should be an award winning performance, a middle-aged fox who is tired of living underground in a hole and wants to move into a nice big tree.

However, when he goes to see Badger, voiced by Bill Murray, he is warned that the tree he wants to move into is on land shared by three of the meanest farmers in the land. Mr. Fox ignores the advice and soon finds out that Badger may have been right all along.

Even Mrs. Fox, voiced by Meryl Streep, is pretty tired of her husband's hijinks and isn't very happy with her clever yet sometimes too risky husband. Their son, Ash, also isn't having a very good time.

You see, Ash is small for his age and is constantly being compared to his father, whom he is nothing alike. To make matters worse, his cousin, Kristofferson, who just so happens to be everything that Ash isn't, sparks a sibling rivalry that is hilarious to watch unfold.

In most cases, a director who goes from live action film to animation will usually change their directing style to fit the medium they are directing for. I was so happy to see that Wes Anderson kept his quirky, dry humor and his characters and story and brought the medium to it instead.

There are so many different levels of genius at work here. You have the animation, which is beautiful to look at, not to mention multi-generational levels for everyone in the family to enjoy. Kids will love the animal characters, and adults will love the sense of humor and art style to the film. It really has something for everyone in it. The overall message of the film is that it is okay to be yourself and you have a lot of different natural talents that are unique only to you, and you should use those and never be ashamed of who you really are.

The film is rated PG, mostly because the characters in the film are prone to talking like grown-ups. There is swearing in this world, however, with that being said, there isn't actually one swear word uttered the whole entire film. Every time one of the characters might swear in the dialog, the words are substituted with the word "cuss". It is a brilliant joke that repeats itself throughout the film and actually gets more and more hilarious as the time goes by.

The bottom line is this. Fantastic Mr. Fox is a brilliant work of animation and a joy to watch and take in. The voice acting is top-notch and I believe this film will give Pixar's Up a run for its money when the academy awards come.

So, this coming weekend, if you are thinking of what on earth you can do with your family, hurry the "cuss" up and get on out to see Fantastic Mr. Fox.

4-man Bobsled World Cup

2009-11-17T13:19:00.003-07:00

On Saturday afternoon Nate and I went up to Park City to see the 4-man Bobsled World Cup. It was a lot of fun. However, it was absolutely freezing, but we still had a lot of fun. We took lots of pictures and Nate took some video footage. He hasn't edited it yet so I won't post any of that here right now. He can post that later when he has had a chance to edit it. The scenery was awesome,even though there wasn't as much snow as there usually is at this time of year. We arrived at the top of the track in time to see the last 3 sleds of the first run. At the end of the first run the USA was in 1st, 3rd and 5th place. But they didn't have such a good second run, they ended in 6th, 7th and 8th. Oh well. One of the Canadian sleds took first. I can't remember who got 2nd and 3rd. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see up close. It was really neat to see world class athletes, some of which will be competing in the Olympics in Vancouver in February. Even though we were really cold (I think my legs and toes were completely numb by the end of the night) it was a really fun date. And the best part is it was free!

Catch up

2009-11-11T16:40:00.002-07:00

So I just posted an update on what we've been up to lately on my personal blog. You can all go here: www.liferamblingsbyangie.blogspot.com to read the post.

-Angie

A new talent/project

2009-09-27T15:52:00.002-06:00

So I have been working on a new project and am really excited about it. I have also started a personal blog for just me and my thoughts. I will continue to post somethings here too. If you want to see what my new project is click on this link here http://liferamblingsbyangie.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-talentproject.html

Nate's new Movie Review Podcast....

2009-08-28T04:55:00.000-06:00

This past week has been pretty exciting for me as I came up with an idea to do a movie Podcast. Since I see three or four movies a week with my critic job and only get to write about one of them for the paper, I thought it would be fun to edit together a radio show style podcast that would allow me time to talk about films, as well as do some other fun things, like go back and highlight older, classic films. Anyways, you can listen to or subscribe to the new podcast here: http://www.nathanuncksmoviepodcast.blogspot.com/ and follow the links on the right side of the posts to subscribe.

It can be downloaded directly to iTunes though that link, or whatever else you like to listen to your podcasts on.

I have also put in artwork and a request to be picked up in the iTunes store. It would still be free to download, but easier to find on iTunes. I will post an update on if that submission goes through or not. Check it out, and let me know what else I can do to make the show more interesting and fun. I would love to get some feedback.

Training updates

2009-08-22T21:28:00.004-06:00

We have been using the new training method for almost a week now. Cosmo has responded fairly well. However, we have discovered just how "dominant" we have allowed him to be, so it is proving to be difficult in some areas. But then again, it has only been a week. To get him completely where we would like him to be will take some time and work. The muzzle proved to be an interesting factor in the training. Cosmo HATES it, and resisted it more than he resisted training. Kind of funny. However, it has also proved to be a great tool in that after a few times practically wrestling with him to get it on, we can now only show him the muzzle and most the time he will return his focus and obey. But the few times he still resists to obey, he now will allow us to put the muzzle on with no fight. Amazing! We have seen some pretty big improvements. They aren't solid yet, he still tries to test us, but they are improvements still the same. He hasn't tried his extremely high pitch bark that he used to do when he wanted something. He doesn't bark at us the whole time during meals, occasionally he will let out a little bark, but we just correct him, and if he barks one more time, we show him the muzzle. If he barks one more time after that, the muzzle goes on for about 15 min. He than remains quiet for a while, usually the rest of the meal. He is still struggling with staying down off of the table, counters and people, but he has improved still in that area as well. We have also been working with him on his crate training. He has resisted the crate from the first week we had him home, he never liked it, he didn't mind it as long as the door was never shut, but once you shut the door, you'd think the world was coming to an end. Anyway, he has improved greatly with staying in his crate with the door shut. There have been times he barked and whined about it. We just correct him and if he still resists and barks, on goes the muzzle. He was in the crate for about an hour yesterday with no complaints from him, and without the muzzle. Cosmo still isn't as submissive to me as he is with Nate, he has relinquished more of his dominance to him. He is still reluctant doing so with me. But that will come in time. I am very impressed with this training. Some things are still frustrating and will take some more time and work. But as long as we keep it up and be consistent, I believe we will be very successful and Cosmo will become the wonderful dog and companion that we were hoping for.

Dog Training begins...

2009-08-18T16:05:00.002-06:00

So we went through a puppy obedience class with Cosmo a couple months ago and he did really well. However, it is just a very basic beginning training. They gave us some good information and a good starting point. However, with some of the information and techniques they gave us, Cosmo didn't seem to be taking to too well over time. I have been searching for other ways of training on the internet and in books and such. We have a profile on this website that has a lot of information about all types of animals, from breeds to grooming, first aid, training, etc. It is also a social network for pet owners with a lot of different types of forums where you can ask and answer all sorts of questions concerning pet ownership and such. The website is youpet.com. It has been helpful with a lot of things. However, when it comes to training, it has been difficult for me to find something that works for us and for Cosmo and also being able to apply it. I am a very visual person, and that is how I learn best, by seeing and doing. So just reading about training techniques and then trying to apply them is very difficult for me. If I could afford it I would hire a professional trainer to work one-on-one with me and Cosmo. But since that is not an option right now, I have been trying to find something that is almost as good that we could afford. My mom told be about this collar and training system that she saw on t.v. I was a little skeptical as a lot of that stuff is not really that great. But I did some research on it and a lot of the beliefs the trainer and developer of the system has, I really believe too and they make sense! So I decided to order it and try it. The program is called "The Perfect Dog", the website where I found this is "theperfectdog.com". I also googled reviews for this system so I wouldn't be just reading the reviews on their own website, they, of course, are going to be very favorable to the program. I found a lot of positive reviews. Today I watched the required start up sections of the dvd and then went outside to begin the first step of training with Cosmo. The first part is to train the dog to not pull on the leash. Cosmo is definitely a puller. Within about 10-15 minutes of using the technique and equipment, Cosmo was walking on a slack leash with only a couple minor corrections by me. It was awesome! The real test will be the next time I take him out in an hour or so, to see if he really did learn. I also began working on the next command, which is "down". This is where we ran into some major problems. Due to the fact that we weren't as consistent with prior training attempts as we should have been and some other issues, Cosmo has become the dominant member of our "pack". So me trying to break him of that with this new training program has created some not really expected, but not surprising, resistance and aggression. The trainer in this program, warned that that is sometimes a possibilty, especially with an older dog who has not had much previous training, or a very excitable dog who has trouble focusing. Which I believe Cosmo actually falls into both categories. For dogs like this he suggests to use a muzzle to help them remain calm and to focus on the training. This does not mean that Cosmo, or any dog in this situation really, is or will be an aggressive dog, the dog is just merely unable to correctly focus without help or is testing you for dominance and submissiveness. So before I can do much more with the training I need to go and get a muzzle for Cosmo. I am really excited about this program. I just wish I knew about it when we first brought Cosmo home, that would have helped immensely and we would have been able to train correctly from the beginning with great references to go back to and we would not be having to work on correcting problems and just start with a clean slate. Oh well, now we know, it will be a lot of work with some of his issues, but I really believe that this program can really bring out the best in both Cosmo and us as dog owners. I will keep you posted on his progress throughout his training.

Woah, Woah, Woah....

2009-08-17T05:21:00.003-06:00

So, I thought that Cosmo was a pure bred Beagle, but as he has been getting a little bit older, we are pretty sure that his father has to be a SMURF.....

Movie Review: (500) Days of Summer

2009-08-02T18:54:00.002-06:00

Here is my most current movie review. Since the newspaper tends to edit a little bit of it, I thought that I would post the full thing here on our blog. Please read it, and then go see the film, it is fantastic.

(500) Days of Summer

Rated PG-13 for language, some crude and sexual humor, and some sexual situations.

Back in January of this year as the Sundance Film Festival was in full swing, a few films were heavily talked about and news spread fast whenever a major film company or studio would pick up rights to distribute a wider, national release for the films.

As the Summer movie season starts to slow down this month, some of those films are now making their way to theaters across the country. I passed up this film, (500) Days of Summer, at the Sundance Film Festival because I heard the news and promise of a wider release, and tried to concentrate on other films that I would probably only be able to see one time during the festival.

I wish that I wouldn't have waited, because what I am about to say could possibly be due to a pretty uneventful summer movie season with exception of Up and Star Trek, I really haven't been too impressed. (500) Days of Summer is my personal favorite film of the year, and honestly, even with other films coming out later this year that I am completely stoked for, I don't think that this one will be beat in my opinion.

I do have to say this up front though, being a critic, it is my job to see and write what I, personally, think. I don't think that my opinion is any more important as you, the reader, think. You may see a film I review and like it, or you may hate it. It's not my job to tell you what to think.

My favorite aspect about film, is that the most important aspect of the art is to tell a story, and we as human beings base our lives completely off of stories, especially when we can associate what is meaningful or significant in our lives and to be able to relate to a story being told. Sometimes not all stories are as special to other people than one might be to you.

I feel that my goal for every review that I write is to help you decide if a film might be a story that you, as the reader, would want to see because I believe that by giving you my perspective on the film, or a story, will help everyone who reads the article to see the art form of film, and base your own opinions of the stories being told.

I say this because this film is probably the most realistic and honest film that I can ever remember seeing. When I watch the stars, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deshanel in this film, I don't really feel like I am watching actors, but feel like I am watching a real relationship with real emotions. I don't think that I have ever felt like I related to a character so well before.

The film is about a boy named Tom who falls in love with a girl named Summer, and the film quite cleverly doesn't follow a linear storyline by skipping around back and forth between different days in the course of the relationship. Day (1) starts when Summer gets hired as a Secretary at the greeting card office where Tom works. It then will skip forward to Day (234), then back to day (3). By this time, you should know that the (500) Days isn't referring to the actual season, but the girl.

The days are shown out of order to help the audience gain a sense of the bigger picture, and help fill in gaps that may not be understood one day, but makes sense later on. The artistic drawing that the "Day Counter" is on actually helps provide a clue as to whether the day is a bad experience or a good one.

If it is good day, the picture is bright and colorful and sunny. If it is a bad day, the picture seems to have dark heavy clouds and not very much light. And then of course, there are the days that are kind of hazy. Also represented by a picture that is a little mixture of both dark and light. This was a brilliant idea and I have to give my regards to first-time director, Marc Webb.

The film is narrated and the storyteller tells the audience up front that the story isn't a love story, but a story about love. If you think that it sounds like the same thing, then you must see the film to fully understand what is meant by that statement. Those looking for a romantic comedy won't really find it here, although the romance in the film is done very realistically and the comedy is very funny and fresh.

The only part that doesn't seem completely realistic is a day-dream sequence by Tom, but the scene helps lay out the character in a more realistic way. Tom is a person who believes in true love and miracles and soul mates, and Summer is the opposite. She doesn't believe in love really, and thinks that life should just be enjoyed and relationship free. So as the days go by and their relationship seems to bud, the audience gets to see different perspectives from both of the characters points of view. There are also some other brilliant "point of view" scenes including one where the screen is divided in half, and one side shows the optimistic "Expectations" of Tom, and the other side shows the "Reality" of the situations.

I guess I really loved this film as much as I did because I very much related to the character of Tom. In past relationships, I was always a hopeless romantic and an optimist. I am sure that almost every person who has ever been in a relationship where they really wanted things to work out has had a moment when they were expecting something, but in reality, didn't actually happen exactly what you wanted to.

I can't remember the last time I went to a film with an indifferent mindset, and then come out of the theater completely amazed at how much the film really effected my outlook on life, especially my old and current relationships. Which is why I have to give this film a 10 out of 10.

However, there is a warning that comes with my article. The film is rated PG-13 and fully deserves it's rating. Usually that is something I say with an R rated film, but I can't let the content slide, just because I loved the film so much. The film has some profanity scattered throughout, including one word that I don't think should be allowed in any PG-13 movies at all. It also has a couple of jokes and scenes that are of a sexual nature. Even though they aren't very detailed, they still might cause you to blush just a little bit.

Because the film is technically an independent film, there are only a few theaters showing (500) Days of Summer, so be sure to look up which theaters actually have it, and plan in the next week or two to go see it, because it will probably be a true "sleeper hit" and not sell many tickets, due to smaller budgets by an independent film marketing companies.

Also, one more thing. I have said in this article before that around ninety-five percent of the time, if a film doesn't hold a sneak preview or critic screening, it means that the film is a dud. I am here to report, and not very surprisingly so, that G.I. Joe is not having a critic screening. So, if you have big hopes for this one, you just might not get what you want out of it. However, as I said earlier, that is also only my opinion, and maybe it is just because that particular story, to me, doesn't seem like one that I would like very much.

Until we meet again...

2009-08-01T09:04:00.004-06:00

So this post is a little late in coming, but the past week has been a bit crazy so now that I have some time, I decided to post it now. As I mentioned a few posts earlier, my grampa was not doing so well health wise and had decided to stop Dialysis treatments. Which meant he would be soon leaving this mortal existence. His last day of Dialysis was Friday, July 10. We knew after that, it could be anytime he would pass on. It was a hard week that next week, always jumping when the phone rang but dreading what news might be on the other end. But it was also a sweet time. My mom and all her siblings spent that week with my gramma and grampa. When grampa wasn't sleeping he was watching The Food Network. He loved that channel. He would see something that sounded good and he wanted someone to make it so he could try it. And if they did happen to make it, he was too sick or too tired to actually eat it. Sad, but funny. On Sunday, July 19, my mom called and said that grampa was getting worse and he was sleeping a lot and when he wasn't sleeping, he was kind of out of it. They didn't think he was going to be around much longer. So they spent the day calling all of us grandkids and great grandkids and we all got a chance to talk to grampa for a little bit and say goodbye. The last thing he said to me before he dozed off was "I love you". The next night, Monday, July 20 around 9 pm, he passed away and I am sure was greeted on the other side by his family who have passed before him. I am amazed at how much of a difference this experience was compared to when my grampa on my dad's side passed away. Grampa Weight passed away almost 3 years ago. It was sudden. Even though he was old, and his body was weak, he was still in great health. He had fallen and had to have surgery on his hip (I think, I'm not positive on exactly where he broke). The surgery had gone perfect and he was doing great. The next morning, while at work, I got the phone call from my dad saying grampa was gone. Somehow, during the night, his condition had changed for the worse. We never got to say goodbye. I was never as close to Grampa Weight as I was with my Grampa Ellis, but it was still really hard with Grampa Weight's passing. This time, was easier yet harder. Easier because we had known for almost 2 weeks that it was definitely coming. We had our chance to each talk to grampa and say goodbye. But it was also harder because I was so close to my Grampa Ellis. They had a viewing in Mayfield where they live, on that Thursday night. I decided to go down there to support gramma and my family. Friday was, of course, the 24th. So we stayed the night Thursday and watched the 24th of July parade there in Mayfield. It is a small parade (It is a very small town), but they also throw out the best candy and prizes and stuff than any other parade I've seen. I remember when I was younger and we would go and visit my aunt Kathy who was living there at the time, and we would dress up in what ever we could find and I would drive the 4-wheeler, pulling a wagon with all the small cousins in it and the other cousins would be walking behind throwing candy. It was fun. Anyway, the Salt Lake viewing was on Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly I did really well emotionally through that. Got to see a lot of family I haven't seen in a long time. Also got to see some of the people from my grandparents ward from when they lived in West Valley. I had met a lot of them over the years as I would spend weekends and sometime weeks in the summer with my grandparents growing up. My grampa absolutely did not want a funeral, he hated them. So we had just a small simple graveside service instead. My great uncle Art (my gramma's little brother) gave a few remarks, telling a couple stories. Grampa LOVED to fish and to ski. He also had a lot of funny witty sayings that he would use a lot. One of them was "If its smoking its cooking if its black its done". Another one, which I had forgotten about but was reminded at the service was if you asked him if he wanted something to eat and he wasn't hungry, he would say "Nope, I just ate a bar of soap!" Grampa was always saying goofy stuff like that. Anyway, after the remarks, all of us granddaughters sang "Families Can be Together Forever". That is where I kind of broke down and got emotional. I could only get out about half of the words. But it was sweet and wonderful. Luckily I have a couple cousins with great singing voices and better composure than I do to help carry the rest of us who got a little emotional during the song. After the song was the dedication of the grave and then it was over. Short and simple. Grampa was never really into big-to-do stuff, so it was fitting to make it short and simple. I will always miss Grampa, but my memories of him are wonderful and will carry me through until I meet him once again. Below is a copy of his Obituary.

Gary Ellis

Gary Ellis 1934 ~ 2009 Gary Granger Ellis, age 75, passed away July 20, 2009 at home in Mayfield surrounded by his family. Gary was born July 5, 1934 in Salt Lake City, UT to Thelma Marie and LaFayette Granger Ellis. He married Cleola Clark on July 2, 1954 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Gary attended schools at Columbus Elementary, Irving Jr. High and South High School. He enjoyed working and had many part-time jobs along with his full time jobs. He worked at Hillfield, Marquardt aircraft and retired as an engineer from Hercules. His part-time jobs included private detective, hardwood floor layer, raised mink and managed a restaurant. Gary was a past member of the National Ski Patrol for 30+ years, and the Mayfield Lions Club. He loved camping, fishing and hunting. He enjoyed his kids and loved the grandkids. Gary belongs to the LDS Church where he was a scout leader, Elders quorum president, Ward executive secretary, Ward mission leader, activity chairman and Genealogy specialist. Gary and Cleola were blessed with four children: Kathy (Kevin) Westover of Apache Junction, AZ; Carolyn (Evan) Weight of South Jordan, UT; Linda (Bob) O'Brien of South Jordan, UT; Steve (Wynette) Ellis of Blackfoot, ID; as well as several foster children that were placed in his home over the years. Gary has 11 grandchildren and five great-grandsons. He was preceded in death by his parents and sisters: Juanita Kirstein, Betty McCoy, LaFaye Johnson. Friends may call Thursday, July 23rd, Mayfield LDS Ward from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 25th, Redwood Memorial Estates, 6500 So. Redwood, West Jordan from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Family Graveside services to follow.

"Snow Day"

2009-07-29T19:01:00.002-06:00

Nate found this on youtube and showed it to me. This little girl wrote this song herself with help from her dad who is the quitarist in the video. I'm thinking we need one of these types of days right about now to get some relief from this heat!

I've Never Been So Excited to Meet Zombies...

2009-07-26T02:08:00.003-06:00

I have never been a huge zombie fan. Only a couple of films and the Thriller music video have really impressed me as far as the walking dead go.

However, a few days ago, I was trying out some demos of some "casual gamer" downloadable games, when I came across a title that seemed to weird to pass up.

That's right. Plants vs. Zombies, and actually, this game is a load of fun and is actually not very graphic, so younger family members can play without parents worrying about blood and guts, like in other games starring zombies.

The game takes on a very popular game style in video games called "Tower Protecting". The idea is simple. You have a tower, and you protect in from intruders by placing different types of weapons or towers around your main tower to defend it from being taken over by the bad guys. In this case, the "tower" is your house, and the bad guys, are of course, zombies.

Game play starts off almost overly simple, and then as the rounds progress, the waves of brain-eaters get bigger and bigger. The way you protect your house, is by planting various plants that attack or help defend against the zombies.

The way the game basically works is your front lawn is divided up into six rows. Sunshine tokens scroll down the screen or are produced by sunflowers that you plant. The sunshine then acts like money that allow you to plant other plants that help fight off the bad guys. There are pea-shooters which shoot peas, giant flesh-eating Venus Fly Traps, and all sorts of other great "play-on-words" plants that can be used.

However, for creatures without brains themselves, the zombies are actually pretty smart, and different characters of zombies start coming at your house, like a pole-vaulter zombie that can pole vault or jump over a plant or weapon that happens to be in it's way, making the game even more complex as time goes on. There is actually so much to discover with the game that it can easily gobble up the time you spend playing the game, and gives the ever famous "just one more level, then I will go to bed" phrase a whole new meaning.

The game was created by Pop-Cap Games, who also created other time wasters such as Bejeweled and Peggle, (the latter being a game that Angie could play non-stop for hours). If there was ever a downloadable game on the internet worth the $20 to spend on, this is the game to get.

Now if you will excuse me, I think I am just going to go play one more level before heading off to bed...or will I?

Cute Scribblenauts is only evil to the ESRB....

2009-07-17T02:57:00.004-06:00

This past June, the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, or E3 was held in Los Angeles, California, and out of the hundreds of new video and computer games that were demonstrated at the expo, it was an unseemlingly Nintendo DS game that was all the rage and walked off with the title of "Best Game Exhibited" for the show.

The game is called "Scribblenauts" and will be released on September 15th, 2009 on the Nintendo DS.

The object of the game is simple. 200 different levels have a star located in them, and it is up to you to help your character, Maxwell, collect them. The stars are always located in a spot that needs some puzzle-solving to get to, but that is the beauty with this game. 5 people were hired for 6 months to do nothing at work except for read the dictionary, Wikipedia, encyclopedias, and browse online for almost every object in the known universe. The game animators then went to work at creating them, and installing real world mechanics in the game. The player then writes or types into an on-screen keyboard, the object or objects they would like to use to solve the problem, and it will appear.

For example, if the star is stuck in an iceberg, you can write or type in "flamethrower" and a flamethrower will appear, allowing Maxwell to use it to melt the ice and grab the star. The only things that won't appear are proper nouns, i.e. Michael Jackson won't appear if typed in, although, pop-star would, creating a generic dancing celebrity. The only limit is your own imagination.

It seems that the possibilities are endless with the game, however, we live in a world with sick people, and it turns out that the leaders of the sick people happen to be the video game ratings board, or the ESRB. The ESRB has rated Scribblenauts E-10, which is very funny that the rating it is given, when said fast, sounds like the very reason the game was rated E-10 in the first place. Eaten. Here is the exact quote from the ESRB explaining the reason for the rating of the game.

" This is a puzzle game in which players navigate a series of traps, puzzles, and enemies to collect stars scattered throughout the colorful levels. Players have the ability to summon different objects by writing/typing in the word (e.g., bike, spaceship, lion) and watching it come to life. If multiple words are entered in a sequence, different whimsical scenarios can be triggered: a bicycle can be used to jump over a baby; a bulldozer can clear away a shark; and cabbage can be fed to dinosaurs. Players can elect to summon "cartoony" versions of bats, bombs, guns, and flamethrowers. These types of items can be used to destroy objects or even other summoned items (e.g., a club can be used to hit an animal; steak can be attached to a baby to attract lions; rockets can be lobbed at a man). These triggered animations are minimally depicted and are usually accompanied by popping, musical sound effects; bright, star-shaped flashes; or small puffs of smoke. If players wish to, they may type in the word vomit, which causes a beige-colored lump to appear on the screen."

Now, I don't want to be labeled as a sick person, but this rating explaination all of the sudden gave me a million different ideas on how to solve puzzles in an unorthadox fashion. I can't wait to use old people and dentures to gnaw their way through a tree to help me collect the star. It will be great to use flaming puppies to fight a hunchback for a star. The twisted possibilites are now completely flowing through my mind, thanks to the people who are supposed to be warning and protecting people from doing things like that.

Still, I cannot wait to get my hands on this game. It is going to be the best $30 spent on a video game ever, or for those of you with an R4 cartidge, the best five minutes waiting for a game to download ever. Either way, hit me up if you get it and let me know some crazy ideas for solving your problems.

Goodbyes are soon at hand

2009-07-15T20:23:00.005-06:00

So I just found out this afternoon that my grandfather finally made his decision on whether or not to continue with Dialysis. He has decided that it is his time, his body is old and too weak. He was having a hard time with the decision because he doesn't want to leave my gramma alone. But he decided that it is his time and to just spend what ever time he has left enjoying family. His last day of Dialysis was actually this past Friday. The doctors said that once he stopped Dialysis, he would have about 4 days, today is day 5. So it is just a waiting game right now. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I will miss him greatly, but I have also found peace with the fact that he will soon be leaving us. I will definitely miss him a lot, but I find peace in knowing that I will see him again and that he will be in a better place and he won't be hurting anymore. Grampa has lived a very good and very active life. I know he will be happier were he will be at, waiting until he can great us on the other side when it is our time. I will always have my memories of grampa, and I am gratefull for that and for the knowledge of eternal families.

Bees Game

2009-07-12T09:54:00.034-06:00

So a friend of ours gave us some free tickets to last night's Bees game. Wahoo! Free is always good and I love baseball games. The Bees games hold a special place for Nate and I as that is were he proposed almost 3 years ago. There is a post about that one earlier in our blog, can be found here . It is number 6. Anyway, last night happened to be the night that The Chicken was at the game. I have never seen The Chicken but I had heard that he was a riot. We had a really good time and The Chicken really was hilarious. Here are some pics from our night at the ballpark.

Nate got sprayed with silly string by The Bee.

The Bee teasing the dogs from the Humane Society

The Chicken and his little chickies

Cleaning up the Umpire, must have deodorant!

Must have good eye sight to be an umpire

The Chicken got in a fight with the opposing teams players and...

Was stripped of his feathers and ran off in shame!

A pre-healing of sorts

2009-07-06T17:01:00.004-06:00

So as I said in my last post, my grampa is not doing well and we could be saying goodbye to his earthly presence soon. It was his 75th birthday yesterday and the family planned a birthday party for him with ALL the family, well almost all, a few couldn't make it, but there were a ton of people there. Anyway, ever since Tuesday when I heard about the situation with my grampa, I have been having a real hard time keeping it together. I would just have to think about him for a second and tears would well up. I decided to make a slideshow of my grampa's family and life and put on a dvd for him for his birthday. It was emotional looking through all the pictures, but so much fun at the same time. There were close to 300 pictures I looked through, I didn't use all of them, but I used a lot of them. It took me until 3 am yesterday morning to get it completely done. Then I had to wake up at 7 am to get ready to go meet my parents and drive 2 1/2 hours to my grandparents house in Mayfield, Utah. I was really tired. When we got there, we ate lunch. There was tons of food. We took pictures with grampa, sang "Happy Birthday" , ate cake and socialized with family we hadn't seen for awhile. It was fun. Later, after everything was cleaned up and all had gathered back at gramma and grampa's house, we watched the dvd I had made. It was a lot of fun, everybody really enjoyed it. Now I just need to get everybody's addresses so I can send them a copy of the dvd. They all wanted one. We then headed home, very tired, but happy that we had spent the time with grampa. I realized on the way home that this past week of reflection on grampa's life, the trip through time via the picture slideshow, and the visit with grampa at his birthday party has had somewhat of a healing affect on me. I now feel more at peace about grampa leaving, when he does eventually pass into the next life. I know there will still be pain, and I will always miss him, but I am more at ease with the idea of him not being around anymore. I believe I will now be ready to say goodbye when that time has arrived. He is deciding this week if he is going to stop Dialysis or to continue with it for a bit longer. So I guess it is all a waiting game right now to see how this all plays out and how soon we really will have to say our goodbyes. But for now, I am grateful for my grandfather's life and example, for the opportunity I had to see him yesterday, and if it is the last time I see him alive, it will be a very happy memory.

Mixed Emotions

2009-07-01T10:15:00.003-06:00

I am on kind of an emotional rollercoaster today. Yesterday I was told by my mom that we were going to be having a 75th birthday party for my grampa on Sunday and that he requested that everybody be there. Now Grampa of course always likes to see and visit with everybody, but he also understands that we are all busy at times and can't always get together. This time it is different. It could be the last time we see him on this earth. The story actually begins 14 years ago when my grandfather got very sick. It was discovered that he had Cirrhosis of the liver due to bad blood from a blood transfusion years earlier. He needed a liver transplant. So he was put on the list. Within a week he was moved from the bottom of the list to the top, he was getting worse. Not even 24 hours after being placed on top, he was able to get the transplant. Miracle #1. Shortly after the surgery, he had a stroke, he had to learn how to walk and talk and all that all over again. But he came back tremendously from that with hardly any ill effects. Miracle #2. There were a few rough patches along the way and a few times we thought we might lose him. But he is a fighter. About 3 years ago, he fell and broke his leg pretty bad. He had to have a rod placed in it. But he recovered fairly well from that too. Miracle #3. The next year, he fell and broke his other leg. This one was pretty bad. They tried to save it, it got really infected. In the end, they had to amputate before the infection spread anymore. Miracle #4. Then around 2 years ago, his kidneys started to fail due to all the medication he was on for anti-rejection for his liver and medications from all the other stuff he was dealing with. So he went on Dialysis. Now it looks like Dialysis isn't really doing much and he is too weak and sick to go through a kidney transplant. He asked my Mom and her sister if he should go off of Dialysis. If he goes off, he could live anywhere from 1 day to a couple weeks. I know it is probably time. He has been through a lot and his body is just so worn down and weak. We think he was actually asking permission to pass on rather than advice for if he should keep going with a treatment that is basically keeping him alive. I love my grampa. I am pretty close to him. After hearing this news last night I've just been going over memories in my mind. I remember spending the night over at gramma and grampa's during the summer, getting up early and watching the classic cartoons with grampa and swimming in their pool. Chasing the ducks and chickens around the yard, collecting their eggs. I remember grampa teaching me how to play horseshoes. They had a horseshoe pit in their back yard. I remember watching him work on this old car that they had sitting in the back yard. I don't remember what kind it was, but it was pretty cool looking. He never did get it running again though, sad. One day he decided he wanted to learn to paint. So he took some community classes and watched Bob Ross, I remember watching a lot of Bob Ross with my grampa. He was really talented. He did some beautiful paintings. I remember going camping with them every summer. I am the oldest grandchild. He gave me one of my nicknames, potatoebug, because of how I would sleep when I was younger, curled up with my butt in the air. (Nate says I still sleep like that sometimes ! ). He would also call me Matilda, for some reason. He had a nickname like that for all of us granddaughters, Matilda, Gertrude, etc. Grampa had a lot of different types of jobs throughout his life. Security Guard, Ski Patrol, he worked laying wood floors, and some others that I don't remember. The job he had most of my growing up years was an Engineer at Hercules, which is now ATK out here in Magna, Utah. He was also a really good cook, he isn't so good at it anymore since his second stroke took a lot of the use out of one of his hands. He has lived a really good life, quite a bit of adventure from the stories I've heard. I think alot of his pain, other than the obvious physical stuff is the emotional. Grampa has always been a pretty proud person, so having to be in a wheelchair the last 2 years and having to have help with things, has really weighed heavily on him. It has been hard for him to accept help. I know he will be happy and well if he left us. He wouldn't be hurting anymore. I think he knows this, but he is concerned for us he will leave behind, which is why we think he asked my mom and her sister if he should stop Dialysis. I will miss him when he is gone, but I know I will see him again. Last night my Mom, Dad, an old friend of the family, and Nate and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was beautiful and it reminded me that we are an eternal family and will see each other again in the next life. But it is so hard to think about him not being here anymore. It still hurts and probably will for a while, but I am very grateful for the knowledge that we are an eternal family and can be with each other again after our life on this earth is through. I am looking forward to Sunday, but also nervous and anxious about the days to come if he does decided to stop treatment. Grampa, I love you.

This was taken a little over 2 years ago, the summer before Nate and I got married.

This is my favorite picture of my grampa. It shows his humor and fun loving personality!

The Dude Made Thriller...

2009-06-26T07:19:00.002-06:00

So, I was sad to hear about Michael Jakcson passing away yesterday. All I could wonder about yesterday was if he was really innocent of those infamous sex scandals that had against him....or for him....depending on what you believe about him.

Anyway, today I feel really sad now. When I was a little kid, like before my sisters were born a little over 24 years ago, my parents had some vynil records that I, Nate, as a child listened to so much on our old record player, that they were un-playable and never worked again.

The first album was the Soundtrack for the original Rocky. I had a toy punching bag, and I loved to punch that thing with my little toy plastic boxing gloves while listening to the soundtrack. It was amazing. I even bought it on CD on my honeymoon to California.

The second album, that I loved just as much was "Thriller". When that album came out and the origianl 25 minute long music video hit MTV, (It still holds the music video for the best video of all time, by the way), being the only people in our small Magna neighborhood with cable tv, we had cool teenager after cool teenager coming over to our house and watching the video, which my dad ended up recording, get this, on Beta Max, ha ha ha.

Anyways, with how popular that record was, my parents bought it, and I had worn it out in a year. I had actually listened to it so much that the grooves in the record were no longer readable by the needle.

The funny thing is, is that I also bought the CD to that album on my honeymoon.

So, while I am not a related, serious fan of Michael Jackson, he was a part of my childhood. It isn't hard to know why he was so talented. With all of the weirdness about him, those childhood memories alone compelled me to at least write something up about how sorry I am that he is gone, and happy that he helped shape my musical talents by inspiring me with his music.

Gibberish Opera...

2009-06-23T03:06:00.002-06:00

This is a video of a new improv game that we have been playing lately. It is called Gibberish Opera, and this particular performance was performed by Blake Heywood and Jake Harenburg. The scene suggestion was a mix between Hairspray and Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. Blake's "Italian" gibberish at the beginning of the third song is my favorite moment of the game.

The best invention since........ well, a long time!

2009-06-19T21:00:00.005-06:00

So, Cosmo has always had a problem with walking on the leash. He is constantly stopping and sniffing while out walking. Which really isn't the bad part, besides, that is his nature. His breed is a hunting dog and they have one of the best noses out there for it. The problem is that we will be walking along and he will stop VERY abruptly, but I keep going due to momentum. Usually resulting in me doing some sort of leap or hop or something to keep from stepping on him and falling on my face. The other thing is when he sees someone or something that he wants to greet he will try to run up to greet them, or if he isn't quite finished checking out the area, he splays himself out and is very difficult to get him walking again, especially in the direction I want to go. Well, after talking to the trainer about it in our puppy obedience class, he suggested we try using what he called a "sensitivity harness". It is a harness that goes around the dogs girth with a breaststrap that has a "martingale" on it. The "martingale" is an extra loop on the strap that goes along the chest area of the dog. The leash attaches to the ring that is hooked into this extra loop. What it does is that when the dog tries to pull, you give a gentle tug in either the direction to pull them facing you, or to get them to keep moving or go in the direction you want them to. The extra loop tightens up against the dogs chest, creating a gentle pressure, but strong enough that they will follow where it is pulling them to go in order to release the pressure on their chest. I really like this because the harness/collar isn't around his throat so if he is being stubborn and pulling on the leash, it isn't hurting him. Going on walks is so much nicer now. It is so easy. I'm no longer having to tug on him to get his stubborn body to keep moving, so I'm no longer hurting him and I don't have to grimace and feel so guilty when he starts hacking and coughing because he isn't getting pulled at the throat. He walks so much nicer now, right at my side or just in front with plenty of slack on the leash. Whoever invented this harness is an absolute genius and I love them! I would recommend them to anybody out there with a dog that pulls on the leash. Actually, I think it would even be great to use to train them to walk on a leash from the beginning, that way, it prevents them from ever really becomming a "puller". The only thing is you don't want to use this kind of a harness on them if you are taking them running, it could cause some rubbing with that kind of strenuous activity, but for walking it is amazing!

One of my favorite improv games...

2009-06-19T03:27:00.003-06:00

Here is some video of a "Pieces of Paper" game we played in our Jesters Royale show a couple weekends ago. It was one of the best ever. I love our new shirts to, courtesy of my good friends Nate Mulford and Thomas Gasu.

More things for sale....

2009-06-12T10:50:00.005-06:00

So, due to illness, we are still a little behind on some bills. Therefore the need to sell yet more stuff. So here is what else I've got. My wedding dress and my cricut machine and cartridges.

Wedding Dress --- $350.00

Only worn 3 times, for Bridals, Wedding and Reception. Has been professionally cleaned and looks great! I love this dress, it is beautiful and elegant, yet simple. It is Temple-ready. The bodice has a wrap design which is very slimming around the waist. The dress has a "hidden" zipper in the back disguised as buttons. The skirt part of the dress has an Organza overlay with lace and beads around the edge of the skirt. It is a size 12/14 petite. I am 5'4" and I wore tennis shoes for my wedding so someone shorter can wear this dress with heels. Can be altered to be smaller. I received so many compliments on this dress and I'm sure you will too. I am asking $350 for the dress. You can contact me by sending an email or calling or leave a comment here.

Cricut Machine and Cartridges ---$225-$280

year old Cricut Expressions and 3 Cartridges, hardly used. I'm sad to sell it but I really need the money right now. Included are the tool set, a mat (used about 2 or 3 times, still has some use left in it), and three cartridges: Street Signs, Plantin Schoolbook, Accent Essentials. I'm asking $280.00 for the whole thing or $225.00 for the machine, accessories and "Street Sign" cartridge. All other cartridges for $25 each. CASH ONLY PLEASE! Email or call me or leave a comment here.

Email will probably be the easiest way to get a hold of me, but if you leave a message on my phone I will call you back.

Email: potaoebug@yahoo.com

Phone #: 801-981-8152

We are selling our Wii games at great prices...

2009-06-10T17:48:00.003-06:00

(Click on picture to enlarge)

So, I am fortunate enough to have great friends, so thank you all, however, this week, one of them showed me how to back up my wii games for my nintendo wii, so I don't have any uses for the discs anymore. So, instead of going to Game Stop and turning them in for basically nothing, I thought I would sell them.

Here is the list:

Punch Out! -The New One- $25

Boom Blox 1---$15

Boom Blox 2---$20

De Blob--$15

Mario Kart Wii (With one nintendo wheel)--$25

Okami--$25

Super Mario Galaxy--$25

Super Smash Brothers Brawl--$25

The Godfather--$15

Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess--$25

Wario Land: Shake It--$17

Tiger Woods 09--$15

Trauma Center 1--$30

Lego Indiana Jones--$10

Lego Star Wars-The Complete Saga--$10

Lego Batman--$10

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law--$10

Winter Sports--$7

Wario Ware--$20

all of these prices are exactly 50 Percent lower than if you bought them from a store new. Angie and I really need some money to get some bills paid, so it would really help a lot if you guys out there could help us with some of these. If you are interested in purchasing all of the games, of a few of them at a time, we can work out a deal.

Nate

Neighborhood surprise....

2009-05-18T21:06:00.004-06:00

As Cosmo and I were out for a walk this evening we ran into a bit of a surprise. We have a new neighbor...
Yes, Mr. Raccoon has been living in this tree next to our Condo Complex for 2 days now. I think he actually is stuck up there because the yard that the tree is in has a big dog in it. So basically, the coon has been treed!

Star Trek is Fun and Watchable...

2009-05-17T14:39:00.001-06:00

Sorry, one more video from the Onion that had me rolling on the floor.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Kid Wins Spelling Bee....

2009-05-17T14:29:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorite videos from The Onion that I have seen in a while.

Special Boy With Freakishly Large Brain Wins Spelling Bee

Am I pathetic???

2009-05-06T11:28:00.002-06:00

So Nate left last night on his 3rd annual Moab trip with my brother and some friends. I miss him already. Is that pathetic? He hasn't even been gone for 24 hours yet and I'm already wishing the week away so he will be home! He really needed a break. Between all the theatre stuff he has been doing and him getting sick and now me being sick with Mono, I know it hasn't been an easy time for him. I know for one I have not been the easiest person to get along with lately, when I am tired I am usually not a very pleasant person, so add Mono to that factor, well let's just say it would probably scare away the worst enemy. But on the other hand, with me not feeling well and being stressed from not being able to work much so money is EXTREMELY tight, I'm not too keen on being left alone for 5 days. Sorry I'm kind of whining and complaining, I just really miss him already. Geez, like I said before, it hasn't even been 24 hours yet. I never thought I would miss someone like this, it's not like he is gone forever or anything like that. At least I have my puppy at home waiting for me to get home from work everyday (if I have the energy to make it into work). So I'm not completely alone, but it just isn't quite the same as having Nate around.

My Fantasy Has Just Been Destroyed...

2009-04-20T21:53:00.003-06:00

I don't think that there is a comic book fan out there alive that hasn't wanted to secretly hook up with Wonder Woman. After seeing this video on Youtube, a five minute long pilot for a Wonder Woman TV show made by the exact same team who made the 1960s Batman TV show. Compared to this, the old Batman Series seems like The Dark Knight, and all of my Wonder Woman fantasies have been replaced with a wicked case of hilarity. The best part comes in at the 4:35 mark when Wonder Woman goes to fly, that is if you can make it through the 3 minute 30 second nagging of her mother, and one of the longest mintues of your life you will spend watching Wonder Woman adore herself in her mirror.

Pac-Man....

2009-04-17T16:11:00.002-06:00

some cute pics

2009-04-13T18:41:00.003-06:00

Silly Cosmo

2009-04-13T17:50:00.004-06:00

Cosmo has figured out lately how to carry around his food dishes, but he isn't quite sure how to react when they "attack" him!

Life Update

2009-04-13T17:11:00.002-06:00

Okay, so it's been a while since we have posted anything. So I thought I should catch everybody up on stuff. Things have been crazy. Cosmo is growing so fast, and is very stubborn so training is going very slow. He is very smart, I know he understands most of the stuff we've been working on with him but he is just really stubborn about obeying, especially if he knows that we don't have any food to reward him with. He prefers food rewards to love and praise. Yikes, it makes it difficult when trying to wean him off the treats in training. Oh, well, patience and he will come around.

Nate was insanely busy for about 2 or 3 weeks with 3 shows overlapping. He was performing "Guys and Dolls" on Mondays and Thursday - Saturday nights and 2 Saturday Matinees, rehearsing for the One act play he is in for the "Festival of One Acts" on Tuesday nights, and rehearsing for his lead role in "See How They Run" the 1 night he had free in the week. Then add Improv performances for "Jesters Royale" on Friday nights. All the while he had a massive sinus infection! Poor guy. I have also been really sick. I have missed so much work, that I'm not sure how I'm going to pay all my bills this month. Hopefully we can figure that out soon. I have been to 2 doctors and a bunch of blood tests and a sleep study test, and I have an appointment with another doctor on Thursday to try to find out what exactly is going on.

And if this stuff alone isn't stressful enough, add stupid puppy-hating neighbors! They have called the cops and animal services on us at least 5 times because Cosmo has a VERY hard time being left alone. So he will whine. And his whine is kind of loud. The only time he is left alone is when I have gone into work my evening job and Nate has had to go to the Theatre, or I have gone with him to the Theatre to watch him perform. Now the most we have left him for is about 3 - 3 1/2 hours. Not too long really, but Cosmo can't handle it. And it is only about 3 times a week at the most. We are always home by 10 or 10:30 at the latest, which is our complex's quite hours. I can understand how him whining for about 1 1/2 hours of the 3 hours we are gone can be annoying, but he is quiet and well behaved (minus the potty training of course) all the rest of the time. He is only 3 months old! No puppy is going to be completely quiet at that age when left alone. We are trying to work with him on his separation issues, but stupid neighbors that leave us nasty notes and call the cops on us all the time instead of trying to be understanding and perhaps helping us with the problem makes it very difficult and stressful. We are having a hard time training the correct way in fear of bothering the neighbors. Come on. Give us a break and some lee-way and let us train him like he needs to be trained. The neighbors don't even identify themselves in the note so we could personally talk to them about the issue and try to come to an understanding. How cowardly is that? Aargh! If you can't tell I am extremely pissed at that. We have an idea of which of our neighbors it is, but we can't say for certain. Why do people have to be so, oh I don't know the word I'm looking for, but it is sooooo annoying. Cosmo isn't going anywhere. We have every right to have him and we are doing everything we can to train him, but he is a very young puppy and deserves and requires some patience and understanding. Okay, so I'm off that vent.

I have been looking for a new full time job. I just don't fit at my current job anymore. I can't really progress any further and I would like to move on and learn some new skills. The problem is that EVERYBODY requires sooo much experience. How is anybody supposed to get experience if nobody gives them a chance. I am a very quick learner, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore. I know what I would like to do, and would like to go to school for it, which would only take 9-14 months, depending on where I get my education for it and how quickly I can progress through the program. The problem with that is the money. We have no money that can be spared at this point to pay for schooling at all. I would have to be extremely lucky and be able to get a grant to pay for it ALL, or have some un-known rich relative die and leave me the money! Ha! Fat chance at that! LOL! Anyway, I would like to do Medical billing and coding. It is something that I've been interested in lately and have seen a lot of jobs hiring for it, but all require experience. It also starts out at a much higher pay than what I'm making now (which has taken me 7 1/2 years to work up to). And it is a profession that can be done from home after a while if I need to. Anyway, hopefully things will work out and we will be able to get healthy soon and figure everything else out too. But in the mean time, if any of you out there reading this have any ideas for our puppy situation or any leads on jobs, just drop me a line and let me know.

Fun in the Park

2009-03-29T13:23:00.004-06:00

So Cosmo and I went to the Park yesterday evening. I decided to take my camera along to try to get some pictures of him and also to get some pictures of the deer that frequent the golf course next door to the park. Well, the deer didn't show up, but Cosmo had a blast and he completely wore me out. It was kind of difficult to get a good picture of him at the same time trying to hold onto the leash and get his attention. But we got a few good ones. Here are some of them

Reggae Pink Floyd

2009-03-27T17:46:00.000-06:00

Hooray for Tapeworm....

2009-03-10T23:53:00.001-06:00

Puppy updates

2009-02-27T08:58:00.004-07:00

Oh the joys of having a puppy around! It took us about 2 days, but we finally decided on a name. And it wasn't even one of the top 3 that we kept going back and forth on for the 2 days. Those names were : Radar, Rudiger (Rudy), and Bogart. But one morning I turned to Nate and said "What about Cosmo? I think we should name him Cosmo." Cosmo had been on our original list of about 15 names that we had written down that we liked. But for some reason it never made our top 3 list. So we asked the puppy what he thought. Now he probably didn't really care or really know what we were saying, but he responded very joyfully! His reaction was actually probably due to the fact that it was about 7 am and he is almost always very rabunctious at that time of day after a restful night of sweet doggie dreams. So that was what we decided to name him. The first 3 nights we had him at home, I had to work in the evenings and Nate had play rehearsal (they open tonight, you should all come and see Guys and Dolls at the Empress Theatre in Magna). With Cosmo being so little still and he was definitely not use to being alone at all, we didn't want to introduce him to "alone time" his first few nights. So Nate got permission from his director to bring Cosmo to the theatre while he was rehearsing. The stage manager and stage crew helped watch him while Nate was on stage. Also, the entire cast and crew LOVE him and would go and play with him when they weren't needed on stage. Some of the cast members have been calling him the "Unofficial Mascot of Guys and Dolls". So he has been very well socialized right from the start. He absolutely LOVES people! If I have him outside to go potty and he hears or sees a person, he will actually stop going potty so he can go over and greet them! Silly dog! Now I don't know if this has contributed to his separation anxiety that he now has, or if he is just stubborn and does not want to get use to spending a few hours by himself. He HATES it when we have to leave. He will cry and whine for a LONG time, and he isn't quiet about it. I feel bad that the neighbors have to hear that for so long, but we've talked to them, and they understand he is a puppy and it will take some time and training and he will get over it (crossing fingers). It's just like having a baby around, except when a baby pees or poos, it is in a diaper and not on the floor, so much easier to clean up with a baby. But at least we have wood floors, so cleaning up isn't too difficult. Just annoying when you take him out, he goes potty, you come back into the house and 5-10 minutes later he does it in the house! I don't get it. Why didn't he relieve himself completely while outside just a few moments before? But there are some great things too. Like the puppy kisses, and the times he just comes up and crawls in your lap. Or if you are laying on the floor he will come up and cuddle with you. He LOVES to cuddle. The excitement he gets when we come home from work or play rehearsal. The way he tilts his head from side to side when you talk to him, or he is hearing a new sound. Even with all the frustration of the potty training and trying to train him to chew on his toys and not the furniture, our clothes or our hands, he is still a great dog, so fun to play and cuddle with. He has brought a lot to our home already. Nate loves that Cosmo is there during the day to keep him company and to play with. It has been awesome having him around!

A New Addition...

2009-02-15T23:36:00.009-07:00

Angie and I have always talked about getting a puppy ever since we were first married, but were either renting a place or staying with her folks, so we couldn't really get a pet under those conditions. However, since we now own our own place that will also allow pets, we were able to put some actual thought towards the idea.

Last week, we were watching Underdog to Wonderdog on Animal Planet, and it got us thinking about a puppy again, so I, Nate, got on KSL and was looking at the classified listings for

puppies. I have always loved Beagles, even though I am a Shih-Tzu and Dachshund fan, so I searched for Beagles first, and low and behold a super nice couple in West Jordan had a new

litter of 5 Beagles. Two boys and three girls.

We had decided that we wanted a boy, and one of the boys was taken, which really narrowed down our choice. They did bring out two girls, and one was so adorable that it was hard to choose the boy. However, the boy licked Angie's face, so that really ended the discussion. Anyways, here is the first picture that we had with the puppy last week.

We have to wait until the 20th of February to bring him home since he is still a little bit younger, so waiting two weeks has been hard. So, we decided that when visiting our parents this sunday that we could go back over just for a little play date, and we couldn't believe how much more active he seemed and even how much bigger he looked. Here are the pictures from earlier tonight.

So, we are super excited to bring him home and start in with the puppy training. We have a few names picked out, but want to give him a day or two here at home before we name him, just to see what his little personality is like. So far we like Bogart, after Humphrey Bogart....Radar, after Radar from M*A*S*H*...Rudiger (Rudy) after the movie Rudy....Cosmo, after the funny guy in Singin' In The Rain, not Cosmo Kramer for Sienfeld, even though that is an added bonus to the name...Giacamo from The Court Jester...as you can tell, we have liked the Film History theme for naming him. A couple others that we have tossed here and there are Spielberg and Rosco, and Apollo, as in Apollo Creed from Rocky.

We will keep you posted on what we end up naming him and post even more pictures and even video when we get him home and film him.

How Well Do You Know Your Husband

2009-02-11T12:55:00.008-07:00

Okay, so this is a little late, but between work and being sick, we haven't had a lot of time. So, in honor of my husband, for both our Anniversary (January 12) and his 28th birthday (which was February 2) I have the following trivia. Make sure you check out the link in #20:

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Simpsons, King of the Hill, or any of his numerous video games.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Anything with Curry in it! He hates it, he even hates how I smell when I eat it.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Rootbeer, Lemonade (especially if they have specialty flavors), Sprite

5. Where did he go to High School? Cyprus High School

6. What size shoe does he wear? 9/10

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Movies, especially classics, oh and their posters too.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? He doesn't really care for sandwiches too much, but if he had to ... probably would be the Cold Cut Combo from Subway on Honey Oat bread, with pepperjack cheese, lettuce, olives, pickles, banana peppers, mayo, vinegar and oil.

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? There really isn't anything he would want to eat everyday. He really likes variety. The only thing that he can't seem to get enough of would be Soda Pop

10. What is his favorite cereal? He likes a lot of different cereals, but the kick he has been on lately is the malt-o-meal version of fruity pebbles and the malt-o-meals Marshmallow Mateys

11. What would he never wear? Clothes that anybody bought for him, unless it was a t-shirt with a funny picture or saying on it. He likes to pick out his own stuff, even if he has shown you exactly what it is he wants. He just wants to do it himself and make sure the look and size is right.

12. What is his favorite sports team? BYU Football. (He likes the U also,except for when they play each other, but he bleeds way more Blue than Red)

13. Who did he vote for? Obama

14. Who is his best friend? Me. Or Darin, or Nate M, or Jake, or Brady

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Cry over stupid stuff

16. What is his heritage? Dutch

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? We are both into this one... German Chocolate cake all the way!

18. Did he play sports in high school? He did track, the long jump mostly, and Basketball.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Reading about movies, technology, and games, both video and board, on the internet. Oh and looking up stuff about improv games

20. What is one unique talent he has? He has a unique dance style that pretty much hasn't changed since he was 10 years old. If you want to see check out the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dfaZb6UELI

Need I really say anything!?

Name Game

2009-01-20T12:52:00.003-07:00

I saw this on a friend's blog and found it kind of funny, so I decided to do it too.

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Angela Unck

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus -izzle.)
Angizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)
Blue Horse

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)
Weight Copperfield (I don't have a middle name so I used my maiden name)

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Uncan

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink)
Green Coke

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your mom's maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad's name, 1st letter of a sibling's first name, and last letter of your mom's name)
Nculann

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents' middle names)
Louise D

9. YOUR HOOD NAME: (first 3 letters of your first name and add -iqua)
Angiqua

Now copy, paste, and send on to all of your crazy friends.
C'mon, do it and send it back to me, MAKE ME LAUGH!

Woot, Woot!!!

2009-01-16T03:28:00.005-07:00

Our friend Brady Flanagan got married this past weekend to another friend of ours, Amanda Heywood. We are super happy for them and wish them the best. Brady asked me, Nate, if I would be one of his best men, along with some of his other friends that I had either never met or met in passing at improv or something, but never really hung out with.

Well, when I hung out with them for the bachelor party and at the wedding, we had so much fun that they invited me to hang out with them last Saturday night, and it was a lot of fun.

Well, Brady has always told me about this great website that I had never actually went to and visited, but Saturday night, Brady's friend Steve was wearing this way awesome t-shirt of a giant walrus attacking these little eggs that had stick-figure arms and legs, and they were holding spears fighting the walrus. One of the eggs was also cracked all over the ground. It was hilarious.

Well, I finally broke down and went to the site, and it is freaking awesome, but very strange and different. Most t-shirt websites have a bunch of funny jokes, but jokes that you might find on another t-shirt on a different site. For example:

While funny, it is the same joke, designed by different people, and really, not that original. By the way, the joke is an SNL skit making fun of the film, There Will Be Blood, in case you were wondering.

Well, http://shirt.woot.com/ has original shirts straight from designers who enter them and hope to be picked. Most of the designers have their own original shirts that they sell online on other websites. They also have weekly contests where anyone can enter their own design and then have the general public vote on them. If the shirt wins, it gets printed and sold online, which is great for all of you photoshopper, t-shirt designer wannabe's , myself included, that want a chance at selling a design.

The t-shirts are sold for only $10. It is a great deal.

However, there is an awesome, but crazy and sometimes disappointing catch. One new shrit is posted on the site at 12:00 A.M. U.S. Central Time, so 11:00 P.M., if you are here in Utah where we are. The shirts stay there for 24 hours, that is, if they don't sell out. There are only so many shirts sold, so if you don't buy quick, you miss that opprotunity for the shirt, and you will never get it again. It makes it fun to race and get the shirts and everything, but it is sad if you go on the blog page on the website and see a great design that you missed.

If the shirts don't sell out the first day, shirts then go onto a list of the most recent popular sellers. The shirts will then be available for a couple more days, but at the price of $15 per shirt. So it is better to buy it when you see it. I am sad that I will never be able to get the walrus vs. the egg shirt, ha ha ha, but I get so excited to get online everyday to see what the new shirt is going to be. They range from really abstract designs, to simple jokes, to really cool artistic designs. You name it. Here are a couple shirt designs I liked.

Anyways, if you like really cool, fun, or interesting t-shirts like I do, go over to http://shirt.woot.com and check it out. Stop by every day for a few days and see what it is like. It is pretty fun.

New Pets...

2009-01-10T03:54:00.003-07:00

When I was on my mission in Detroit (Holy Cow) eight and a hlaf years ago, I had a strange Christmas holiday. I wanted to buy my family an awesome framed picture from the Church Distribution Center as my Christmas present. Since I was on my mission, I figured that I didn't really need anything.

However, the picture was always backordered, and so eventually, I just got the money back and was able to use it on other things as a missionary, but on Christmas, I didn't have anything to open up from my family, except a new tie. It was a great tie, but my companion had so many presents from home. It was kind of a bummer to be spending my first Christmas away from home watching my companion opening up his presents. I am not bummed out about the way things turned out though, ha ha ha.

That afternoon, my companion and I were eating lunch when a knock came at the door. It was the Primary Presidency of our ward, and they were there with a big bag of presents for us. My companion let me open up all of them since I didn't really have anything from home to open. They were all practicle things that missionaries might need in their apartment like a spatula and new toothbrushes, but one of the kids, I am sure the parents helped them pick things out, ha ha ha, bought us these things called Triops. When I saw what the present was, I looked on the back of the package, and I said to my companion, "Elder, I think we got a new pet for Christmas from the Primary".

When I was a little boy, I would go up and visit my Grandma Coxey once, (Still to this day, she was one of my closest and best friends), and she had a package of Sea-Monkeys. I had no idea what they were, but my grandma had seen them in the store, or in a magazine ad and bought a package so that I could grow them at her house so that every time I went over there, I could see how much they had grown.

I have to be honest, I love watching Sea-Monkeys, which really aren't monkeys, they are Brine Shrimp, like we have here in the Great Salt Lake. They don't get very big, but they are way fun to watch. They have also been found in fossils that are millions of years old, and they haven't evolved since. The package said that they were as old as the dinosaurs. The package contains dried eggs that hatch when they hit water. It is amazing that they can be freeze dried, and then brought back to life and hatch.

Well, Triops are a lot like Sea-Monkeys, but they grow faster and die after only a couple of months, but if you grow them well enough, they will get big enough and reproduce. They were so easy to grow and they were a ton of fun to watch. They are also dirt cheap. We had a blast with them and always wanted to get some more to grow and watch. We kept a tape recorder and made a great "Science Experiment" documentary/commentary on the Triops, and is still hilarious to listen to, ha ha ha.

They feed off of alge that grows in the bowl, jar, or tank that you keep them in, making it super easy to not worry about. They do have other food that they can eat too. They love corn and peas and what not. They grow to look like a shrimp, and they breath through their legs, which are constantly moving, finding the air in the water.

Thinking back to that experience on my mission, I have decided, since they are super cheap that I am going to order both some Sea-Monkeys and Triops and keep a new video and picture account and post them both here on our blog and on my Youtube page. (By the way, if you want to see my videos on Youtube, just search Unck42 on the Youtube website, and it will come up). Stay tuned for more.

Life Highlights of 2008

2009-01-08T09:22:00.002-07:00

Last year I started a little tradition for myself posting a blog about the big and/or exciting changes in my life over the past year. 2007 was a hard year to beat, and I have to say, I wasn't too thrilled about 2008. 2007 was definitely a better year.

Not that there wasn't any good things that happened in 2008, it just went kind of weird for a while. I will start at the beginning.

1.- Angie and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary together at the Castle Creek Inn, where we stayed the night we got married, in the Excalibur room. It was awesome, and as a result, I didn't sleep much because I wanted to enjoy the room. Angie slept very well. You can find pictures from our visit in the January 2008 posts.

2.- Much Ado About Nothing. Hot off the heals of performing my first play in over five years, I got right into a second play. The play ran over my 27th birthday, which was a lot of fun, and for those of you who were there, that night during improv, Tiger Rug was born. Pure Genius. Much Ado went well and I made a lot of friends that I got to see again in a few short months.

3.-Right after Much Ado About Nothing came Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, of which I played Joseph. It was really a lot of fun to be the lead role in the show, and I learned so much from that experience. I made a lot of really great friends from that show as well. I still see a lot of them.

4.- The One Act Play Festival. Playing Halloway in Megan Chase's "The Casualties" is by far the best thing I have ever done on stage. I loved playing the dramatic role, and the show was absolutely beautiful. Not because of my acting, but honestly, because of the script, which was also written by a teenage girl.

5.-During Much Ado About Nothing, Angie and I moved in with her parents since our apartment, being in Angie's aunt and uncle's basement, was being saved for Angie's cousin, coming home from his mission and getting married. We thought that it would be a good time to save some money and get out of debt, which we kinda, sorta, did, but not really. I think this was the decision that really made 2008 really start to slide. I was so busy with plays that I didn't really notice it much, but when I had a month long break between the One Acts and 12 Dancing Princesses, it really got hard.

5.2- Moab two times. I went with Angie's brothers, Nick and Darren, and our friends Jake, Joe, and Patrick down for our second annual Moab trip. It was great. We stayed for 5 days and four nights, and had a great time. A week later, I took Work In Progress down to Moab for our WIP TRIP, and we all had a great time as well. Angie was able to make it down to that trip as well, so it turned out being a blast.

6.- 12 Dancing Princesses reunited me with Drew Keddington and Laura Bedore from Much Ado About Nothing. It got me out of the house, and it was great seeing my old friends from the earlier show. During "Joseph" and "12 D.P." is when I really got to be close friends with Brady Flanagan, and Aldo Gomez, who are both on the improv team with me at the Empress. We had some great times carpooling downtown for the show at the Off Broadway Theater. Good times, good times.

7.-Imrpov at the Empress went from being called Work In Progress to The Jesters Royale. The team has progressed and regressed in certain ways. The changes that we wanted to make with the team, besides the ownership, but the actual show format never really happened. We had auditions and got some great people on the team, but we haven't really found out how to organize all of the talent we do have into an incredible show. It is just kind of the Same ole' Same ole'.

8.- One piece of good news was the fact that my film critic job at the paper has been increasingly getting better and better. I am on first name basis with all of the critics around the Wasatch Front and I got accepted by a press company that is in charge of 85% of the critic screenings in the valley, so I have been able to see a lot more films this year, a lot earlier and for free, which is always nice. I even got to see Wall-E a month early, and got to interview the director, Andrew Stanton for half an hour. It was so awesome to meet and Academy Award Winner. He previously won the Oscar for Finding Nemo.

9.-Wait Until Dark at the Empress was a blast to do. I loved being in the show with Heidi, Mary, Ben, Jim, Kyle, Kevin, and directed by Blake. It was so much fun, aside from rehearsals when I got the shingles, that sucked. The play went very well, and I was happy to play Mike Talman.

9.-During the summer, Angie and I were looking for a new place to call home so that we could leave her parent's house and go where we belong...on our own. Our friend, Wade, got us looking at condos, and we thought that maybe with a little bit of luck, that we could rent one somewhere in West Valley. We called our friend, Robert Walgamott, who is a real estate agent, and asked what we could do. A few weeks later, and a few fingernails less, we closed on a great Condo in Magna that is really close to Cyprus, where I work most of the time, and The Empress. We are also around a lot of our friends, which is great. We couldn't be happier about the place.

10.- After Wait Until Dark, I jummped right into the Empress Christmas show, Babes In Toyland. I got to play an idiotic henchman to the bad guy, girls would be a henchwoman! It was a fun show to do. I met some new friends.

11.- I got really involved with promoting a new board game store here in West Valley, and as a bonus, got to write a new article for the paper reviewing board games. It is a lot of fun, and we now have a really big game collection. If you are ever up for a game, give us a call.

12.-Christmas and New Years ended up being a really great time of the year. It was nice to take a break from shows for a little bit and spend time with Angie. Our family situations are better now that we aren't constantly around them, ha ha ha, isn't it funny how it works out like that? We still only have the two nephews, Xander and Carson, who we both love a whole ton. It is fun to see them walking around and talking a little bit.

2008 was a bitter-sweet year for me, but I am glad that 2009 is here and I can't wait to sit down here again, a year from now and write about all of the adventures that this year holds in store for Angie and me.

Agricola...

2008-12-24T10:29:00.003-07:00

So, for those of you who don't know, the newspaper that I am a film critic for has allowed me to try some new and interesting articles out lately. I have been most surprised with recent emails and comments about my board game reviews that I have done. I have reviewed three so far. The third one hit people's doorsteps and gas station news stands earlier today.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a new game that I would have written about for my very first column, but this game is one of the top rated board games in the world, and they can't keep it on shelves long enough for people to even know that it has been reprinted.

Luckily for me, since I have been doing the board game reviews, I have been able to work out some deals with Epic Puzzles and Games, which is a great new game store in West Valley City, Utah. I also have a friend who owns a game company that I help out with as well that sells these underground board games, and find some sweet deals with him too, so I feel extremely lucky that I got a copy of the newest printing of Agricola.

Agricola is a Latin word meaning Farmer. The object of the game is quite simple, build the best farm you can with the limited resources that you are given. Each player has a farmland board in front of them. On that board is a space for one farmer and his wife. There are three other boards where cards are placed that have random farm building actions, for example, build a stable, or collect wood.

Each player may only take one action per turn, per person on the farm. So for the first few rounds, each player will get to take two actions per turn. One for the farmer, and one for the wife. Once an action has been used that round by a player, no one else my use that same action until the next round, making it tough to get popular items like clay or wood.

The game can even be played solo. Not very many games can be played alone, but it is really amazing how much fun you can have with this game by yourself. The game supports up to five players.

The greatest part of Agricola is that no matter how many times you play it, with however many players you decide to play with, the game is always be different. If you want to play with the family, you simply turn a couple of the boards over, and there is a simplified version of the game that plays a little bit faster than the normal version.

The normal version has three different decks of cards that you can use and switch out. An Easy Deck, an Intermediate Deck, and a Skilled Deck. The decks are then broken down for smaller or larger sizes. Then the cards are shuffled up, and only a few are delt to everyone, and not all can be used. Players will never experience the same game twice with all of the variety. The rule book could have been put together a little bit better. The paper is really light and the print is small, but they get the job done.

All in all, I can see why it is rated as high as it is and why there is a huge craze for it going on in the board game universe right now. I really look forward to playing this game many times with my friends and family.

Nintendo is Genius!!

2008-11-30T19:33:00.006-07:00

Yes, that's right folks, genius! Nate is learning how to cook! How, you might ask? Well, some of you may have seen the commercial for Nintendo DS's newest venture, "Personal Trainer: Cooking". Nate doesn't really know how to cook and he is always saying how he would like to learn, but we just never got around to really doing anything about it. Well, we saw the commercials for it and thought it was a really cool idea. So, with me starting a second job soon (hopefully only very short-term) Nate is going to have to do a lot more cooking for himself. So I bought it for him. What the "game" is (technically it isn't a game, more of a learning program) is it has almost 300 recipes that you can look up by the country they originate from or specific ingredients like chicken, beef, pork, vegetable, etc. You can also look them up according to key words. Each of the recipes tell you how much time it takes to cook them (this time gives the cook time and does not include prep time), and how many calories are in the recipe. They also give you the list and measurements of all the ingredients needed (it automatically calculates the measurements for how many serving you wish to make from 1-6). It will then go through and tell you and show you by pictures and video step by step on how to make the dish. Each recipe also give you a list of required and recommended tools and utensils needed for the recipe. There a functions where you can look up specific ingredients and see if there is anything you can substitute if you don't have or can't find a certain ingredient. The program is interactive, meaning it is voice activated during the making of a recipe so you don't have to wash your hands or anything while cooking, you only have to say things like "continue", "last step" or "repeat". Tonight we tried it for the first time. We made Kung Pao Chicken. It was really good. We omitted the chili peppers as Nate isn't too big on really spicy stuff. We also discovered that we didn't like the amount of ginger root it called for, so we think that next time, we will alter that a bit by using less and grating the ginger root instead of thinly slicing it. But it was still really good. I am so proud of Nate! He actually cooked something that wasn't ramen, mac and cheese or spaghetti. He was very proud of himself too. We are so excited to try more of the recipes and it is a great tool to help Nate learn how to cook. The instructions are super easy. I would recommend this for anyone. If you are already an accomplished cook, you wouldn't really need all the instructions, but it has some great
sounding recipes that I am really excited to try!

Deck the Halls......

2008-11-30T19:11:00.006-07:00

This weekend (Friday, day after Thanksgiving to be exact) Nate and I put up our Christmas tree and all our other Christmas decorations while listening to Johnny Mathis Christmas music. Listening to that specific Christmas album has become a tradition for us every year while putting up and decorating the tree. It is so much fun. I love the Christmas season. I love the decorations, the smells, the music, and the true meaning of Christmas. The only sad thing right now is that I can't seem to find where my manger scene got packed away. It wasn't with all my other Christmas stuff. So I'm still searching for that one. Anyway, I 'm happy that the Christmas season is here, even though it is going to be a very busy one, I'm excited to be spending our first Christmas in a place that is all our own. I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! And to share a few pictures of our Christmas decor.

With A Piqued Curiosity Comes A Curious Question!

2008-11-26T05:02:00.003-07:00

This is kind of a long post, but bear with me because I really want to know what people really think about it, but it honestly requires that you read the whole posting and see things from a different point of view that the one you are probably used to hearing.

So, for those of you who know me, they know that I really love to learn new things and try things that aren't quite the normal, everyday activity that you might be involved with. For instance, taking up the sport of Curling and really getting into it and understanding it from the inside out.

They also know that I am really into board games and card games and love spending time with friends or family involved in a game of some sort where we can have a good time, but interact with each other.

The string of thoughts that got me thinking about the subject which I am about to discuss was this: The lead singer, song-writer for one of my favorite bands, The Mr. T Experience, wrote a book called "King Dork". I haven't read it yet, but want to get the audio book. I saw that he has a new book coming out in August of 2009. The book is a young adult novel which is about a girl who gets a Tarot Card reading, and her life starts to go crazy, but in line with the cards.

So, I looked up Tarot Cards on Wikipedia, and I was super surprised to read what I did.

Now, being a Mormon, we believe that you should completely stay away from anything like Ouija Boards (Wee Gee Boards), Fortune Telling, Divination, stuff like that, because when all is said and done, we should be getting revelation from the Lord, and putting our trust and faith in him instead of things like horoscopes and psychics.

Well, come to find out, Tarot Cards, which are mainly used for divination, or fortune telling, in the United States, are actually a very common and widely used deck of cards which are used for, get this...Playing Games!

The cards were invented in 15th century Europe and weren't even used as a fortune telling outlet until the mid 18th century. That means for over 300 years after their creation were they used for "evil purposes"

The cards have more pictures on them than a normal deck of cards, but the standard deck of cards that we use in games like Spades, Bridge, or Poker are basically the deck of Tarot Cards, without one card in each suit, so basically, there are 14 cards in a suit instead of 13.

Just like in a normal deck of cards, the cards have a rank which determines the importance of a card. The higher the rank, the more important. For example, usually in a regular card game using our standard deck, a King is higher than a Queen. The only real difference is that the ranks kind of have a little bit of a story or symbolism to them, which is why eventually someone started using them for fortune telling.

Now, I know that most LDS members will play with playing cards, but not use them for gambling or fortune telling. So, my question I want to ask all of you who read this post is this.

Don't read ahead and skip to the question, read the above first....

If playing cards are okay to play games with for fun, would Tarot Cards be "bad" to play the games that they were initially invented for?

You can take anything and put a negative spin on it. That is what sin technically is. Taking something good or wholesome, and making a mockery or going completely against something to be rebellious. Example, Intimate relationships are to be had between a man and wife and is used for procreation and for strengthening the relationship between the husband and wife and make them closer. Satan has also used that same power as a way to make money, a way to mess up peoples lives, cheating on one's spouse, and to even lead to bigger sins like murder.

So, good things can be twisted to bad things. If something wasn't originally invented or meant to be evil, but it has a misunderstood meaning or interpretation because of the twist, does it automatically make it evil or wrong.

I think not. I think that as long as you always follow what our church leaders or are always have an eye single to the glory of God, it isn't such a big deal. I think that people mostly take a lot of things at face value, especially when it comes to things dealing with entertainment and games/sports. Like, when people think of curling, they think of it only as the weird sport they see once every four years at the Olympics and think it is funny because the sportscasters are always making fun of it in a way.

What is the difference between playing the original Tarot games, which are a lot like Bridge or Spades, and playing with a normal deck of cards?

Get this, another fact about Tarot cards is that they were originally designed with Christian Symbolism. 15th Century Europe was heavily influenced by Christian Faiths, and the symbols were put on the cards to remind people of their faith and love of the gospel principles, even while playing. It wasn't until 300 years later that some of the symbolism was changed and used for fortune telling.

Another question, if you did use the cards for "reading", there are two different "reading" styles. There is "fortune telling" and there is "reading".

Let me clarify between the two because people understand reading and fortune telling to be the same thing, but they are different.

A fortune telling is when a person shuffles the cards, flips them over, and then tells the person that the cards say that this exact thing will happen, and these are the choices you are going to make, and you can't change it. It is destiny and fate, and nothing you can do will change it.

A reading is when someone shuffles the cards, flips them over, much in the same fashion as the fortune telling, but the big difference is that in the reading, the cards are symbolic for gospel principles. The reading is meant to council you instead of tell you what is going to happen to you.

For example: If you were to flip over the Devil Card in the deck, it represents our obsession to worldly things and addiction to anything in the form of evil that consumes both our body and spirit. The card is meant to council us to depart from this obsession and to seek spiritual help and enlightenment.

The Death Card means Spiritual Rebirth. A challenge to change ourselves from our old ways and repent.

The Heirophant card reminds us that sometimes we must seek counsel and guidance from our spiritual leaders such as bishoprics or priesthood leaders, in an LDS example.

and the Hermit card suggests that we study our books of scripture, because most people study in classrooms or at home.

None of those things are telling us what is going to happen to us, but are things to remind us what we need to do when presented with a challenge in life. I don't see anything evil in repentance or getting over a sin or life obstacles.

Normally with a "reading" , not a "fortune telling", you present a question like, "How can I get good grades in school?" and then flip the cards over and make a story out of the cards you are presented with and take it as an example, and not a this is exactly what I should do. What is the difference between doing that and applying a story from the scriptures to fit your own personal situation?

You just need to remember that "reading" Tarot Cards is just for fun or like reading a fortune cookie and that you need to read your Scriptures because we have been told that reading the scriptures and prayer are the most common ways in which we can receive revelation. That doesn't mean we can find beauty and inspiration in other things as well. We just need to remember what is important and what isn't. You aren't going to head for the deck of cards whenever you have a real spiritual problem on your hands, but there isn't anything wrong with picking the cards up for fun and asking Magic 8-Ball questions and flipping over some cards with good advice in their symbolism.

Basically, don't use them for evil, and they won't be evil. Use them for fun, and they will be safe.

We already know that we should stay away from the fortune telling side of reading, but what about the "reading" side of it. Just because we don't put our faith in something other than the Lord doesn't mean we can't learn lessons from some other means. For example, there are a lot of R-rated films out there that I have seen that have a lot more moral lessons and meaning than PG-rated films that I have seen. The rating doesn't really matter in this example, but more the source where I get inspiration from. I think that we can be inspired or reminded of the gospel from other things besides just reading the scriptures, attending the temple, and going to church meetings. Those things are very important to any member of any faith, except the temple attendance, but I think you get my point.

Some people think that it is a waste of time to read books that aren't the scriptures, watch movies or television, play video games, or play board games or card games. Entertainment isn't wrong, but we should choose what we do, watch, or participate in because certain things attract a certain spirit.

Personally, I don't believe that little pieces of card stock with print on them are "magical" or attract certain spirits, but we attract them by the things we do or are intending. If we use a Ouija Board, we are intentionally inviting some kind of spirit, but don't really have a choice of what kind of spirit will show up. Usually not a good one from stories I have heard. If we play a fun game of Spades with playing cards, we aren't delving into any kind of evil realm or spiritual realm of any sort. We are just having fun by playing a game. Same with Dice. You can gamble with them, but that doesn't mean we can't play Dungeons and Dragons or Sorry with the dice.

I don't think that reading the cards for fun is any worse than reading your horoscope once in a while in the newspaper or online. I don't think that it is any different than taking the "Which Superhero Are You" or "What Kind Of Kisser Are You" quiz on the Internet, and least but not least, reading a fortune in a fortune cookie. Based on the questions you answer or choices you have, you are given a fun little answer, whether it happens to be true or not, you just do it for the heck of it, for fun. For entertainment. I'm not going to take a horoscope and plan my day around it and use it for my basis of faith in life. I am not going to take a quiz online and say, you know what, I am a not a passionate kisser because the online quiz said I wasn't.

I just think that the only case that you should be careful with them is when you buy a deck of cards, you need to make sure that they are meant for playing the original games and readings, and not the fortune telling decks that they have out there with symbology that isn't in harmony with the teachings of the gospel.

To go back earlier, I mentioned doing those little internet quizzes, and I actually came across one that was "Which Tarot Card Are You". I thought that the answer was cool, but I am not going to go base my life around what it told me. I will post it below, but it was The Star, which symbolizes Hope, Expectation, and Bright Promises, so basically, It reminds us to have Faith in God. A star is also symbolic for Christ, so Faith in Christ would be the correct reading of the Star Card if presented in a reading.

Now how "evil" is it being reminded to have faith in Christ?

Please DO NOT comment until you have read the whole blog and look at the issue from a different point of view for a few minutes. I don't like it when people form opinions based on something they think they believe without ever really doing any studying or research on the matter, especially when it comes to religious views. Just because someone, including me with this blog post, tells you something doesn't mean you should automatically believe it. Even the Book of Mormon tells us that we should study things out in our own mind and then ask the Lord having faith in Christ that we will be told what is true and what isn't. I am just sharing something that I searched out and learned a good deal about on the internet.

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not suggest any immediate or powerful change, but it does suggest hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Jury Duty and Sickness

2008-11-25T18:57:00.004-07:00

So this past week has been kind of crazy. I got summoned for Jury Duty. Last Wednesday I had to report at 8 am. Which wasn't too bad, considering I start work at 7 am. So I got to sleep in a bit. I've never been summoned for Jury Duty before, so I was a little nervous, but very curious on the whole process. I've seen many court\law shows on t.v. and I enjoy watching most of them. I knew that things would be different in the real world because they have to have ratings so t.v. is always over dramatized. The process was quite interesting. They had us introduce ourselves using a list of things they wanted to know, such as our marital status, education, occupation, what source we get our news from, etc. Then the judge told us what the case was, then asked us a series of questions that pertained to the type of case and if we had any exposure to or experience with the subject matter and if any of those experiences would affect our ability to be (oh what's the word, all I can think of is neutral, but I know that is not the exact word I'm looking for), well basically to refrain from having any prejudices or preconceived ideas about the case and the outcome. The crazy thing is that as soon as the judge told us what the case was, I had this feeling that I would be selected to sit on the Jury. After all the questions were asked and the Defense and Prosecutors were selecting the Jury, the judge told us a little about the history of the court proceedings, where they came from and the symbolism of some of the things in court. I can't remember all of it, but the thing that stands out the most that I thought really interesting was what is meant by "passing the bar". When someone takes the "Bar Exam" to become a lawyer, it means they are now legally allowed to come into the court area, passing the "bar", or railing that separates where the public is allowed to sit from the court. I thought that was really interesting. Anyway, as I said, I was selected to sit on the Jury. I was excited for the opportunity to experience this process, but a little afraid of hearing what evidence may be presented considering the nature of the case. I won't tell you what it was as it could be quite disturbing to some people. I told Nate what it was after everything was all done with and I could talk about it, he had been curious as to what kind of case it was, especially since you can't talk about it through any of the process. Although he was a good sport about it and only asked me after my first day and when I told him I could not talk about it, he dropped it till it was all done with. But now he says he wishes he didn't know. I don't know what the verdict was as I ended up being an alternate juror so I was dismissed as the Jury went in for deliberation. I won't have to serve Jury Duty for at least 2 years now, but I wouldn't mind doing it again, and be able to experience the entire process. Although, I would prefer not to have this kind of a case again. The trial lasted 3 days. I, of course had to miss work for it, but luckily my work pays me my normal pay for while I was gone, plus the court gives you a little bit for your service, although it is not much at all. Well, as disturbing as this case was, overall it was a great experience, and I am glad to have served.

Now as to the sickness part of my post, I spent all but 5 hours yesterday taking care of Nate who had come down with the stomach flu. The 5 hours was when I went into work. I didn't have enough leave to take the entire day off, although Nate probably would have preferred me to do so, but we need the money. I felt so bad for him. He was pretty much camped out in front of the toilet, and he had to miss play rehearsal, which isn't good because it is one week before opening. But what do you do, unless they performed the play in the bathroom, there wasn't much Nate could do. Anyway, I spent so much time around him yesterday taking care of him, that I just hope I don't get it. Does anyone know how I may be able to prevent me from getting it when I have to be around him so much right now? He is feeling better today, not 100% yet, but better enough to go to rehearsal. Although he did take a bucket with him, just in case. :)

Help Us Save Pushing Daisies...

2008-11-13T09:14:00.001-07:00

You don't have to know Angie and me too well to know that we are crazy about the television show, Pushing Daisies.

It is the most creative show currently on the air, but this year's ratings haven't been going very well. ABC hasn't decided wether or not to pick up the show for the second half of the show's second season.

The problem with this is the fact that there are a lot of really great story lines that haven't had an opprotunity to be explored yet, but they have been leaving hints all over the show.

There is always a possibility of a cable network pick-up, but fans of this show can't take that chance right now.

If they had a chance to finish the second half of the second season, they could bring a more than satisfying ending to the show if needed.

Here is what we need from everyone. ABC is going to base the rest of the season off of the episodes aired on November 19th and November 26th. The Show airs on ABC at 7:00 or 8:00 P.M. depending on where you live.

There is only one catch though, DVR recordings of shows don't count towards ratings, and because of this, that is why the show has lower ratings. It goes up against other shows, and people usually set Pushing Daisies to record while people watch something eles.

We need everyone, if they can, to tune in and watch the show, it is very funny and a lot of fun, and clean. It has a quirky premise, but it is a lot of fun. The characters are great, the murder mysteries are hilarious, and it is a show that everyone in the family can watch and have a good time together.

If you can all set your t.v.s to ABC on Wednesday nights so that we can get these ratings up to save the rest of the season, that would be awesome. I don't usually post blogs begging people for help, but this is one of the best shows on t.v., and unfortunately, a lot of American is losing it's imagination, and fast. I am very passionate about supporting this show because of how much creativity goes into every episode. From the writing to the acting, it is phenominal.

PLEASE HELP US SAVE PUSHING DAISIES!!!

Telemarketer Trouble...HELP US!!!!

2008-11-10T13:02:00.002-07:00

So lately, Angie and I have been having a huge problem with telemarketers. When we got our new home phone number, we went to the national do not call registry and registered our new phone number, as well as our cell phone number, just to be safe. However, here we are a month later, and we are getting bombarded with telemarketer calls, and Saturday, Sunday, and the first half of today, we have had over 20 calls on our cell phone from the same company, but it is just a recording that says; "We have an important phone call for you, but all of our operators are busy, please hold".

I don't know what else to do. We have gone on the websites for our home phone service provider and the Verizon website for our cell phone, but we can't find a way to block numbers, because they only show up as Unknown Number on the caller I.D..

It isn't as simple as just ignoring the calls because they call so flippin' often that it is impossible to just ignore.

If anyone has any ideas of what we can do, we would love to hear them. We are tired of being bothered day in and day out.

Elections + Star Wars = Hilarious....

2008-11-05T09:39:00.002-07:00

I was just surfing the net when I found this video. I thought it was great and thought that I would share it with you.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Wait Until Dark... We Need Your Help....

2008-10-21T04:46:00.003-06:00

As some of you know, I will be playing a really big part in the Empress Theatre production of Wait Until Dark. This role has been very tough on me for a number of reasons. Number 1: I was originally cast to play Sgt. Carlino in the show, a big role, but not the biggest. I had already memorized all my lines when the actor playing Mike Talman, the biggest male role in the show, dropped out. I was fortunate enough to have the role of Mike given to me by our director. However, I had to forget all of the lines I had memorized and learn a ton of brand new lines. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't love it, but it was still hard.

Number 2: After getting the new role, I came down with a case of the Shingles, (No roofing jokes, please), and that took me out of rehearsals for over a week.

Number 3: Angie and I moved from South Jordan into our Condo during this same time, rehearsals, plus the shingles, so it was really hectic and hard on me physically and mentally.

It has been a really hard show to prepare for, but I am pleased to say that we have created a great show. I am excited to be performing with my close friends in this show, and am excited to see what kind of reactions we get with how suspenseful the show is.

It is going to be great.

Having said that, we have a problem...

There was a financial situation with the theater, I am actually not sure what happened, but some money went missing. That money was supposed to be for the marketing of our show. We only had a handful of postcards and 8 X 11 posters made up to give out, and we are worried that it could be one of the best shows of the year at the theater that no one will see because they just don't know about it.

There is good news, though. I went to see a play on Saturday night with Angie, and I was standing in line at intermission waiting to buy some candy, and I overheard people talking about the Empress putting on Wait Until Dark, and they were saying how excited they were to see it. The show is pretty popular, especially around Halloween. I was really excited to hear that people were excited about it, all from word of mouth.

I am not going to be pushy. I don't want to come across sounding like I am begging, but I would really appreciate it if you, the visitors of our blog, could make it out to see Wait Until Dark and if you could pass along the word about it, or invite friends and family to come with you to see it, that would be great.

You can buy tickets online at www.empresstheatre.com or you can call the theater at 801-347-7373 and make reservations.

Due to the suspenseful nature of the show, it is recommended that younger children stay home, but they are welcome.

We have worked very hard the past two months on this show, and just want the chance to perform it for decent sized audiences.

Hope to see you there. It is going to be great.

New Home

2008-10-19T20:44:00.017-06:00

Okay, so a little less than a month ago we closed on our condo and began moving stuff in. We still haven't moved everything in yet, but it is getting there. We've been busy with cleaning and doing some painting and decorating in the master bedroom. I wish we could do more than just paint the bedroom right now, but funds are a little tight, so we are going to have to do it slowly. But I thought I would update ya'll on how it was going and what it is looking like. I promise, once we get things a bit more in order and actually have some time, we will have a party/housewarming so all our family and friends who would like to can come see it and party with us. (Nate is rehearsing for 2 shows right now, so once one of the shows starts, we should be able to find a little more time). I'll keep you posted on when that will happen. Anyway, so here are some of the photos:

Living room, before.

Living Room currently. We are eventually going to paint this room too.

Kitchen, this will also be painted eventually.

Master Bedroom, Before

Master Bedroom getting a brand new coat of paint!

Decorating Master Bedroom

Finished. Well, almost, ignore the bedspread, it doesn't match yet, I am working on that one. Oh and we have a couple other minor decorative stuff we want to do. But this was the biggest part of the project all done!

8 Things Tag

2008-10-14T09:03:00.005-06:00

8 things I am passionate about:
1. Nate
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Music
5. Family holiday traditions
6. Baking. I enjoy the sweet goodies more than meals. Can be a bad thing.
7. Dancing
8. Sleep

8 words or phrases I say often:
1. I didn't mean to (Nate will laugh very hard I think at this one)
2. What do you want to eat?
3. I love you
4. What?
5. Oh yeah! (as a realization or remembering something)
6. I'm so tired
7. maybe
8. I don't know

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Have kids
2. ski
3. snowboard
4. Get out and stay out of debt
5. Travel with Nate
6. Get a degree
7. See a professional Ballet performance (yes, as much as I love dance, particularly Ballet, I have yet to see a professional production)
8. See the place where some of my ancestors are from.

8 things I have learned from my past:
1. It's okay to cry, just don't try to solve the drought problem in one session.
2. Life is not easy
3. I am a very confusing person at times (sorry Nate)
4. Those closest to you will usually be the ones that hurt you the most.
5. Love is a very powerful thing, it can hurt and be the best thing in the world all at the same time. ( This kind of goes along with # 4)
6. Sometimes you have to face the ugly to enjoy the beautiful
7. Stop and smell the roses, but don't linger too long or the smell and beauty fades and mixes among everything else, then what is left to slow down and appreciate?
8. Don't take myself too seriously

8 places I would love to go or see:
1. Nauvoo
2. Italy - I didn't spend enough time when I was there, especially Rome
3. New Zealand
4. Ireland - I want to see the Blarney Stone
5. Wales and England - It's where the majority of my ancestors are from
6. Holland - Nate's ancestors are from here
7. Jerusalem
8. Egypt

8 things I currently need or want:

1. MONEY. (We just bought a condo, so there isn't as much of this floating around as we would like)

2. To be out of debt

3. Gas for my car. ( I agree with you Jess, it seems like I need this way too often and its so pricey)

4. Sleep

5. a part time job

6. a better paying job

7. Cars that are in better shape and not needing so many repairs all at once

8. Steak and shrimp. Yum! Oooh, or Steak and Shrimp Fondue!!!

I tag Amber, Christine, Annalyn, Julie, Caron, Christy, Kristen, Heather

The Greatest Invention Ever!

2008-10-10T04:18:00.002-06:00

Feast your eyes on this. The greatest invention ever! I want to meet the first person to ever do this and shake their hand and buy them a soda-pop to wash one down with.

That's right! It's a hamburger with grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. How incredible is that? I love cheese burgers. I just can't believe that I didn't think of this myself. Now finally, a new food product has come along to challenge the McGriddle as the most fattening, heart-clogging single item of food, except for Betos maybe!

How To Pick A Movie While Dating and How to Save Money With Movies...

2008-10-06T04:04:00.002-06:00

I want to share a story with all of you this week. I went into a DVD rental store to rent a movie that I had missed in theaters. When I was waiting in line to pay for my rental, I noticed a couple that had come in. It was obvious that they were on a date, and they were trying to pick a movie to watch together. Sound familiar?

Well, I left the store, forgot that there was another film that I wanted to watch, and I went back about half an hour later, and that same couple was still there, walking around, trying to find something that they could both agree on to watch. I was there another fifteen to twenty minutes, and they were still there trying to decide.

I remember back when I was dating, and still to this day now that I am married, had that same problem. That was until I thought of an idea that has worked very well.

I want to share with you this idea, as well as share some ideas on how you can save a little bit of money when renting or watching movies, because hey, we all could use a little more money, right?

Now, this system requires a little bit of compromise on both parts. One reason that we even date in the first place is to get to know the other person and learn how to get along with them. We can always find time to do things that we want to do ourselves, but dating should be a time when we are unselfish and willing to do what the other person wants to do, or in this case, watch.

Here is how it works. Before going to the video store or Redbox, or whatever, try and decide what genre of film you are in the mood for. Romance, Comedy, Action, Fantasy, whichever genre that both of you are both in the mood for or don't mind watching that night.

When you go to rent the movie, let one person from the couple pick FIVE movies of that genre that they want to see, but that they don't think the other person would hate. This is where the compromise comes in to play for the person choosing the five films. Then, the other person gets to pick one movie from the five that were chosen by the other person.

This way, the first person gets to see a movie they definitely want to see, and the other person gets to pick the movie they actually end up watching. In my experience, when given a choice between a few movies, there is at least one that I am semi-interested in. This is where the compromise comes in for the second person.

It is important that the first person pick at least five films they are interested in. You may decide to pick more than five, but it is important to give the second person a good selection to choose from. This has saved us a lot of time at the video store and given us more important date time watching the film.

Also, it is important to switch who gets to pick the original five movies. Guys, let the girl pick the first time, and if you are lucky enough to get a second date, then they should be willing to let you choose the five.

Now that we have saved time, how can you save money?

There are a few things that you can do to save some money while watching films at home. Whenever I am bored and want to just sit back, relax, and watch a good movie, I go to my home library of movies. You may have more movies than me, or you may have less. But there is a reason that you buy movies in the first place, and that is because you loved them when you saw it.

There are a lot of films that have a lot of funny jokes or neat special effects that you forget over time. Going back and watching them can remind you why you fell in love with the movie in the first place. There are also certain movies, and everyone has them, that if they sit down and watch just a little bit of the movie, they get sucked into the story and can't stop watching it until it's over.

I own Casablanca and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I watch them all the time because of how much I enjoy them. No matter how hard I try, I can't stop watching them until they are finished. You can even try the 5 and 1 dating formula I gave you above with your home library films instead of going out to the store.

Go to a Saturday matinee'. Movie ticket prices can be a joke sometimes. If you go to a bigger, more expensive theater, go in the afternoon after school, or work. Anytime before 6:00 P.M. You can save up to five dollars a ticket.

There are also other theaters that are a little bit older that have cheaper ticket prices. If you aren't going to a movie that requires special digital projectors and a lot of surround sound, like a drama or romantic comedy, go to the less expensive theaters and save between three and five dollars a ticket.

Last but not least, my personal favorite way to save money. Get a library card. Have a library card already? Visit www.slco.lib.ut.us and search for films in the library catalog.

I love to find movie lists on the internet, which you can also do at the library, and then search the library catalog for the films. I have hardly come across a film that the library didn't have. Usually they have multiple copies of the film. I get a couple at a time because you get to keep them for one whole week. They only cost one dollar a day for a late fee, which is just like a Redbox.

Also like a Redbox is the feature of returning the DVDs to any library in the Salt Lake Library System. No matter where in the valley you are, you are always within a few minutes of a library.

However, it is pretty difficult to get a new release at the library, so you may still want to rent or purchase a copy of newer releases from the video store. I love buying previously viewed movies at the video store. DVDs don't wear out like video tapes, and if there is a problem with the disc being too scratched to work, they will refund your money. Half of my home library is made up of previously viewed rental DVDs, and they work just as well as a brand new one.

Even though there are a lot of newer movies that come out, chances are that there are a lot of great movies that you have never seen before from the past. I am constantly amazed at how many people have never seen Three Amigos or City Lights.

For some great movie checklists to get you started on searching the library website, visit www.rinkworks.com/checklist/ . You need to register to see the lists, but it is free and a personal website, so you never get any junk email or annoying pop-ups. You can also look at the checklists that I have made by searching unck42 in the green box on the site.

I hope that this article has been fun for you to read, and has given you some new ideas to try on finding the perfect date movie, and how to save some money.

Cleanliness and Self Pride/Satisfaction

2008-09-30T15:26:00.001-06:00

So we finally closed on our condo last Tuesday! We got the keys on Thursday and started to move some stuff in. While moving that first load in we noticed that the previous owners did not do any real cleaning of the place before they left. I didn't think it too big of a deal because at first glance the cleaning needed appeared to be minimal. Just wash some walls so we could paint, sweep/vacuum floors, that sort of a thing. Well upon closer inspection, it was discovered that they probably hadn't cleaned in MONTHS!!! The main bathroom was absolutely disgusting! The toilet looked and smelled like it had never been cleaned. My mother-in-law came over with her steam cleaner to see if we could get the stains cleaned off. Well, it worked but the smell was atrocious! I have a very sensitive gag reflex and I could smell it from the other room, it made me dry heave. Well, the toilet and shower are clean, we have scrubbed the floor around the toilet, but it is linoleum, so it holds in smells really bad. We don't have the money at this point to replace the linoleum, which I would like to put in tile someday, but as I said, no funds available at this point in time to do so. If any of you out there know how we can get old toilet/urine smell out of the linoleum floor and the walls, PLEASE let us know!! We would greatly appreciate it, and you probably would too if you ever come over for a visit. The Kitchen is pretty bad too. Food/oil splatters on the wall, and the fridge is pretty dirty too. We haven't really dared prepare or even bring much food into the place yet until we can get it cleaned up, which has been slow as we were concentrating on cleaning the bathroom and painting the master bedroom. It baffles me on how people can live in a place so dirty. The crazy thing is that it didn't look this dirty or smell this dirty until after all of their stuff had been moved out. It has been ingrained in me ever since I was a little child that you leave a place better than how you found it. Now granted, this was usually pounded into our heads during family reunions camping up in the high Uintahs. But I've always felt it applies to everything in life. It is courteous to others and I feel it brings a sense of pride and self worth and satisfaction. How embarrassing if I ever left a place looking like that, especially leaving it for someone else to clean up all my dirt and mess! Now it really is a nice place, don't get me wrong. The place isn't trashed or anything, just extremely dirty. And it is taking longer to clean than we thought, as Nate isn't available for the evenings as he is rehearsing for a show. He gets some done during the day while I am at work, but there is just so much to clean and organize right now. So here is a reminder to all out there....... Leave a place better than you found it. That way other people can enjoy it as much if not more than you did! It would definitely help to make this world a better place for all if we did!

2008-09-11T07:47:00.001-06:00

This video is the number one thing I have always wondered about Mario in Super Mario Brothers. This video is so funny, so watch it.

Influence or Copycat?

2008-09-11T05:52:00.007-06:00

One thing that has always bothered me about film is that when one film succeeds in a peculiar way, a million other films coming up try to copy the style and creativity of the first film to break new ground, and then it gets to a point where it just gets old, repetitive, and boring to a point that you find it hard to love the original film.

I know that there are a lot of people that hate Napoleon Dynamite with a passion. When I saw it for the first time, I loved it and went to see it a lot of times in the theaters with different friends to see their reactions to it. It was bursting with style, and when Nacho Libre came out, I felt that it deserved to use the same art style as Napoleon Dynamite because they were written and directed by the same writer/director, Jared Hess. I would say that that is fine.

However, below are posters and movie clip pictures that completely copy Napoleon Dynamite's art style. It has gotten to a point where I am sick and tired of seeing crappy drawings of weird animals and the titles of films on posters with crappy, hand drawn lettering. I wish that people would stop copying a stlye that worked a couple of years ago, and try to be original. That is the problem, they think that because Napoleon Dynamite was original, if they copy it, they will be original too.

Now, I am not saying that these movies are absolutely horrible. I am just saying that the marketing scheme needs to find something else and make it their own instead of hoping that the popularity of Napoleon Dynamite will get pepople to see their movies. Instead, why not try to be original and get good publicity through the press and by word of mouth by making a good, original film.

By the way, I should say that I am not too big of a fan of Juno, and I think that the girl who plays Juno in the film is a "one trick pony". I have seen her in a few films and she always plays the exact same character. No matter what she does, she is always Juno.

BYU and Utah Fans....

2008-09-08T10:02:00.003-06:00

For those of you who know me, I am both a BYU and Utah fan when it comes to college sports. I think when it does come down to the wire, I can't help myself, I am a BYU fan, but know when to root for either team when more is at stake and will help the other team out. For instance, when Utah had their undefeated season a couple years back, when they played BYU, I wanted Utah to win. I knew that if Utah went to a BCS game, that the Mountain West Conference teams would get a nice check from the BCS, or in other words, ABC Television. If BYU had won, there would have been no BCS game and no BCS money for the teams in the conference. It was worth 2 million dollars for BYU to lose that year.

I had BYU season tickets that year, but went to 5 of the 6 Utah home games as well. The only Utah game I missed was because BYU was playing #1 ranked USC at the same time. I really wanted to see USC play that year. It was a great season for college football for Utah, and it was awesome to get to see USC play that season as well.

However, when everything is said and done, being a huge fan of a Mountain West football team is like being a huge fan of a pretty good movie, but thinking that it deserves the Oscar for best picture, but everyone else can see that it just isn't Oscar material.

Don't get me wrong, I still love BOTH teams. When they both have the same ammount at stake, I tend to go for BYU, I don't know why, I just do. I don't see why people can't be a fan of both teams. I am. I don't have a problem keeping the player's names straight. I don't have a problem getting their records mixed up or their stats confused. I love having two football teams to keep track of. It is great being a BYU of U fan. You read that right. I used the U in BYU as the first U in U of U. Get it? Anyways, I am a fan of both.

In my annoyed ramblings, I posted this on the Deseret News website after an article about the rankings of week two of the season. Currently, BYU dropped to 18 in the AP poll and Utah sat still at 22, and the ESPN/U.S.A. Today poll, BYU was still at 15 and Utah at 22. All the comments were just BYU and Utah fans being idiots to each other. Most people don't even know what they are talking about. Here is my post.

I don't even know why I bother reading comments on these articles. I hate fans, seriously. It isn't enough that you have a love for your team, you gotta be a blind idiot and diss the other team. That goes for both BYU and Utah fans. Freak. BYU has to do better than they are playing, they do not look like a top 25 team, they really gotta shape up. As for Utah, they gave up way too many points against UNLV, and they don't know how to put points on the board after the third quarter. BYU didn't deserve to go up in rankings, they got lucky with a bad call from a dumb rule to begin with. Utah is lucky that Michigan isn't where they were four years ago, and uh-oh, they have Utah State next week when BYU has UCLA, I wonder how the boards will turn out next week. BYU barely scraping by, that is if they are lucky and can actually pull off a win, which is a lot to ask at this point, and when the heck has Utah State ever been a challenge in the past ten years? Everyone needs to realize the teams we love are mediocre. That is just the way it is in the world of college football. You go back East, and no one ever talks about BYU and Utah. They are perplexed at the idea that people are even fans of teams in a state like Utah, which they never talk about unless missionaries come to their door or they see polygamists on T.V.. We all just need to do each other a favor and just shut up with our stupid rivalry and focus on the real issue, that the Mountain West Conference is a mediocre conference in a sport that is dominated by a Bowl Committee who tries to find out who the most popular teams across the country are, (because people are huge bandwagon fans), and try to manipulate the rankings and system to get the most watched teams in the biggest and most watched bowls for the biggest paycheck they can get from sponsors. That's just how it is. Now can we all just please, get along?

Movie Review: Tropic Thunder (Reviewed Monday, August 11th)

2008-08-29T15:05:00.001-06:00

Tropic Thunder Rated: R for strong language, violent content and drug material

5 out of 10

When first viewing the previews for this Ben Stiller directed comedy, I thought to myself that it looked like a fun "PG-13" comedy. When I saw that the film was actually rated "R", I thought to myself, well, it is probably mostly for violence since the film makes fun of a lot of different films in the war movie genre. However, this film really deserves its "R" rating for the language. This film is definitely not for the kids or teenagers.

Tropic Thunder stars Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Brandon T. Jackson who play actors making an epic war drama called Tropic Thunder. The problem is, they all don't get along very well and accidentally ruin a four million dollar explosion special effect.

That's when producer, Les Grossman, played by none other than Tom Cruise with make-up that makes him look disgusting, and director of the film decide to hide cameras in the jungle of Vietnam and turn the actors loose and using their special effects crew to scare them into a real performance. However, we quickly learn that there are Asian guerrillas hiding in the jungle as well, putting the actors in real harm.

When Tugg Speedman, played by Ben Stiller, gets captured, the rest of the band of heroes has to come together and actually storm a POW camp, while thinking the whole time that they are just filming the movie, of which they never read the script before filming.

I gave this film a 5 out of 10 simply because it is only funny about half of the time. It is really painful to watch a film that is just trying too hard to be funny. There are some genuine moments in Tropic Thunder that are so creative and hilarious that you make yourself sick laughing at, but it comes at a huge price, and that price is having to watch the other half of the film.

The performances given are great. Robert Downey Jr. plays an Australian actor who has won multiple Academy Awards and is known for being controversial and who undergoes a surgery to make himself black to play the films African American soldier. Robert Downey Jr.'s acting ability in this role is actually one of the best I have seen all year. It seriously challenges Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Jack Black plays the comedian of the three actors, with Ben Stiller playing the action hero. Jack Black, who has become one of my better liked comedians as of late, really doesn't add much to the story. I felt that he was wasted. What mostly comes from Black in this film is a potty mouth that isn't funny. Ben Stiller has his moments, but it is really Downey Jr. who steals the show.

Tropic Thunder might be funny and worth seeing just for Robert Downey Jr. and a few of the war movie genre satire gags, but it is also very rude, very crude, and isn't for the faint of heart.

Yet Another Closing Night....

2008-08-20T02:23:00.002-06:00

I was both blessed and cursed to be in the production of The 12 Dancing Princesses at the Off Broadway Theater downtown SLC. I had a wonderful time with everyone involved in the show, even though there were elements to the show that I didn't care for that much. I mostly thought that our show was just too long.

However, even though I only had a couple of lines that were written in the script, our directors, Laura Bedore and Drew Keddington, let me do a little bit of improv and come up with some of my own stuff. I had a blast in the scene where the princes were introduced because that was when I got to use a lot of my own material. It felt good to have a huge audience laugh really hard at my own jokes, but not laugh at all for the written ones. Teasing Brenden while he was playing the gold medalist Jeque Sporte', and mistaking him for Michale Phelps was a very big crowd pleaser, and something that just randomly came out on stage. It was great.

I really, and I mean really, fell in love with the cast. When I first started rehearsals, I wasn't sure or not if I was going to have a good time with the cast, even though I worked with half of them in Much Ado About Nothing earlier this year. (Even for that show I was worried about not getting along with anyone). However, much to my surprise, most of the people, especially one cast member, who I didn't think that I would get along with very much, because some of the most awesome people to work with. Now I have a lot more friends, thanks to the show, that I wouldn't have had in the first place.

I really loved working for Laura and Drew again, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if they would have me back on stage with them. I will miss everyone from the show, even though it hasn't been my favorite since I have been getting back into theater. Unfortunately, my favorite show is one that not many people saw. The one act play "The Casualties".

What is coming up for me next? I hope that it will be Wait Until Dark at the Empress. I think that taking a break from mid April to October will be enough time away. I am not sure or not, but I might be taking a month or two off for Jesters Royale. I love it, but I feel like I need to progress somehow. I guess it all depends on how the next couple of weeks go.

In other news, If you already read Angie's blog about our eMachine, It crapped out on us, which presented us with the perfect excuse to buy a much better computer, but build it ourselves. Our friend Wade, who played the Butler in Joseph with me back in March and April, is helping me do that, and if the UPS tracking website is correct, we could have that built by Thursday or Friday. Either way, it can't happen soon enough. I really hate using other people's computers to write my blogs.

R.I.P or in other words..... Good riddance eMachine!

2008-08-19T12:17:00.004-06:00

So, we haven't been online for a few days, well actually about a week now. That is due to the amazing abilities of our emachine computer to not work and to finally give up the ghost. Yep. I came home from work the other day and tried to do some work on it, but everything had frozen up. I turned it off and tried to reboot it, to no avail. The lights would come on indicating that the power was on, but nothing would boot up, in fact, it would sound like it was trying to start up something and then the sound would die. Very uncharacteristic of our computer, which usually sounded like a plane trying to take off. And it was only a year and a half old! Anyway, so we decide after all the crap that this computer has put us through that we were never again going to buy an emachine computer. But now the dilemma was, we are left without a computer and Nate needs it to do research and write his movie reviews for his film critic job. We are in a tight situation with finances and so we couldn't afford to pay another $1000 for a new computer, so we decided to have a friend of ours build us one, with a lot more memory (I think that may have been the final contributing factor to our other computer's demise), and some things that will make it run a lot better than our old one. And all of this is costing quite a bit less than 1\2 of what it would cost to buy it already put together at a retail store. Anyway, the parts for our new computer should be delivered in a couple days and then hopefully by this time next week it will be fully operational! So for those of you out there in the market to buy a new computer, if you can, buy the parts and put it together yourself or have someone you know put it together for you. It is soooooo much cheaper that way and you can get exactly what you want and need. Or if you would rather buy an already built one at a retail store, DO NOT BUY AN EMACHINE!!!! They are crap!!!!

I Know, I Know, I Am A Huge Nerd, I Get It.....

2008-08-11T23:35:00.004-06:00

For those of you who don't already know this, I am a pretty big nerd. Especially when it comes to film, comic books, video games, books, music, and curling (the ice sport, not doing hair or weight lifting).

Well, I haven't been a big fan of the Mortal Kombat games since I was attending Joel P. Jensen Middle School when I was 13, but the latest one due out in November has caught my attention. It is Mortal Kombat vs. The DC Comic Book Universe Characters, and natrually, my nerd instincts are kicking in pretty dang high. Check out this video from G4 T.V. with Superman putting on some heat on Sub-Zero. I know that I am a geek, but I love it. Take Care.

Field Trip!!!!

2008-08-01T17:41:00.005-06:00

Some friends and family have often commented on how much partying we do at my work. Well, I guess that is true to a point. But usually it is as a reward for excellent work. Today was yet another one of those times. Yesterday at work we were told that today everything was to be shut down at 1:30 and that we were having some sort of meeting and to wear good shoes and bring a camera if we wished. A lot of speculation went around that we were going hiking or a nature walk or something along those lines. Then everyone was trying to figure out where we were going. It couldn't be somewhere too far away. Oh, if you don't know, I work up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Anyway, so today at 1:30 everything was shut down and we all met in the lunch room for a short devotional, where all the mystery was finally revealed. We have accomplished some great things at work over the past couple of months and management thought it fitting to reward us and to celebrate those accomplishments, so after some explanations and such, we all climbed in cars and carpooled up the canyon to Albion Basin and we went hiking to Cecret lake. I had never been there before, it is beautiful!! There are so many wildflowers in bloom it is amazing! I didn't have my knee brace on so I wasn't able to make it the whole mile to the lake, but I had a ton of fun taking pictures of the flowers and the scenery. It was so beautiful, I thought I would share some of the pictures with ya'll.

Feeling A Little Moody...

2008-07-25T05:44:00.006-06:00

Sometimes I go through ups and downs when I listen to music. I am almost as critical towards music as I am film. Sometimes I am in the mood for something hard, sometimes something soft. Sometimes something newer, sometimes something older. Sometimes I listen to something and wonder how I could go another day without listening to it, and the next day feel that it is the last thing on Earth that I want to listen to.

There is a band that I am constantly struggling with. I love them so much one day, and the next, think that they are so cheesey and lame. But then, I hear them again, and I completely love them all over again.

The band I am talking about fits their name to a T. The Moody Blues.

I was updating my iPod this morning, and I thought to put some Moody Blues albums on, and was reminded why I really love them. I haven't listened to some of these albums since I was in high school, so almost ten years ago. If I wanted to listen to the songs that I liked most off of them, I would just listen to their greatest hits album or something.

Now, I have always, and will always, have Days Of Future Past on my iPod. It will always be an album that I love, even if I am not in the mood for it. It is their other albums that I struggle with. However, this morning, when I put in On The Threshold Of A Dream, I heard songs that I had completely forgot about, but instantly knew all of the lyrics for. All of the key changes, the choruses. It was like going back in time and falling in love with them all over again.

Yeah, it is true. I have to be in the right mood, but when I am, I really, really am. If you have never really listened to the Moody Blues before, I would suggest giving Days Of Future Past a listen. The format is a little different. Half Rock-n-Roll, half Symphonic. The orchestrations are great, and Nights In White Satin is such a great song, especially with the symphonic ending. If you listen to it on a greatest hits album, it doesn't have that ending, so you really have to hear the original piece.

I do have to say one more thing. Even though I love this band, I really only like their older stuff. Everything past 1975 just isn't to my liking. However, they did release an album in 1999 called Strange Times that I actually really like a lot.

When I was in high school, I went with my mom and dad a couple of times to see the Moodys live, and then when I was going down to Dixie College before my mission, they played for three months straight in Vegas, and I went down quite a few times to see them there.

They really are good, I just have to be in the right mood. Maybe you will like them too.

Computer Murphy's Law

2008-07-23T13:05:00.005-06:00

So we've been having some problems with our computer over the last few months, it's been attacked by spyware and viruses, running really slow, still not sure if it is slow due to the power supply or something else, even after it was wiped clean and before we reloaded everything on it would run slow. And now the latest issue with our computer.....

Last week I was burning some copies of family pictures for my siblings. The first cd burned just fine, the 2nd cd is where the newest problem occurred. The cd was almost done, at 99% complete, when all of the sudden there was a very loud crash and shatter sound that came from inside the computer! The burning froze. I was thinking, "Oh crap! What has happened now?! Nate is going to kill me!" The drive would not open no matter what I tried, and yes, I tried the little pin hole in the front of the drive, would not budge at all! So we figured we were going to have to buy a new cd\dvd drive. Yesterday we bought the drive and last night we, (well actually Nate, I just watched) took the old drive out and installed the new one. When Nate was taking the old drive out, you could hear things rattling around inside. So I decided I would take apart the drive and see what exactly happened. And this is what I found:

The cd had shattered to many pieces! I've heard of this being a possibility of happening when burning, but I've never seen (or heard) it actually happen! Crazy! Anyway, I'm glad to report that the new drive seems to work well and that Nate is now a happy camper once again now that he can use the drive to play games and work on his film editing and such!

Here is Nate finishing up with putting in the new drive

Uh-Oh, Here Comes A Bad Movie...

2008-07-21T04:07:00.003-06:00

If you are really into film like I am and have been reading movie reviews as long as I have, you start to notice a trend when a bad film is about to be released.

For example, There is a new film based on the X-Files t.v. show coming out on Friday. Now usually by this time, within one week before the opening of a film, the media (Internet, magazines, newspapers, and t.v.) usually have reviews up from screenings that the critics have attended. Usually, when a film company has faith in their film, they want it to be seen by critics, and maybe even from a few audiences, like sneak-previews and things like that, to generate a good "Buzz" or word of mouth advertising. It is very effective and usually very accurate.

As a certified newspaper film critic myself, I can usually tell, even before a screening, how much a movie is going to fail or succeed before I even walk into the theater.

Does that effect my review? No, I will give an honest opinion contrary to what anyone else says, and give my own genuine reasons why I liked or disliked a film, and what I liked and disliked about it.

One way I know if a film will be good or bad is how early I, as a critic, am allowed to see it. For Wall-E, it was a full month early. For The Dark Knight, it was almost a week early, but other critics around the country had seen it already and were praising it. Not only did I get to see them early, but I was privileged to see them with a couple of guests only, or in the instance of The Dark Knight, I could only attend the screening with the other critics in the Salt Lake Valley.

Even though there weren't a whole lot of people at those screenings, the films were incredible. I was also able to release my review of The Dark Knight and Wall-E early, and was able to create good "word of mouth" publicity. Film companies love that because it is free marketing for them.

Now sometimes a film company might want critics to screen a movie early, but they may not have as much faith in the film as they would like, so they allow an audience sneak-preview of the film. This means that the critics go to a screening with a "sold out" audience who get to see the film for free and usually get other free things like t-shirts, posters, snacks, things like that. Well, this creates an atmosphere where the critic goes into a screening, and everyone is having fun and the energy is running pretty high in the theater. Usually I know that a film won't be as stellar as it may seem because of the audience getting free movies and gifts.

Now, back to The X-Files: I Want To Believe. So do I. I want to believe that this film is going to be good, but let's look at the facts.

1.- No early screening, so no buzz from any critics or sneak-preview audiences.
2.- The critic screening is the day before the film opens and I am not allowed any guests when usually, for a film like this one, I am.
3.- Our reviews are to be held until a week after the film opens.

As you can see, from what I have just described above, it seems to me that Fox is not confident at all about the release of The X-Files: I Want To Believe . In fact, it sounds like they are scared to death about it, and so they want to skip reviews all together so that the film can make as much money as it can in one week before word of mouth destroys it.

I really hope that I am wrong. This is not a film review or a critique. This article is just to help you, the reader, how to spot a bad film before wasting time and money to go see it and find out afterwards.

I am still going to attend the critic screening for the film, and I will report back on how it was. In the meantime, if you haven't seen The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Hellboy 2, or The Incredible Hulk, I would suggest you go see those.

A Memory

2008-07-16T12:39:00.002-06:00

A Memory
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! It can be about either Nate or Me (Angie) or a memory that involves both of us.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

My crazy husband.....

2008-07-16T11:18:00.004-06:00

Okay, so Monday evening while Nate was at rehearsal I get a phone call from him, he says I have to check my email NOW! I was a little confused as to what would be so urgent that he would be calling me in the middle of his rehearsal and demanding that I check my email. Well, when I opened my email, there was one he had sent me over the cell phone with a file attached. I opened the file, and not much to my surprise I found the following picture. I was laughing so hard and just had to call my mom into the living room to have a look and a good laugh too. If you saw "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Empress Theatre, and you thought Nate's wig was goofy then, well take a look at this one, along with the outfit though, I think it goes rather nicely! He-he!

Nate, it's a cute\funny picture, but I'm glad you don't actually look like this all the time, only when you are portraying a "Lady-in-waiting" in a play. So everybody out there, if you would like to see live what this picture is all about, come check out "12 Dancing Princesses" opening this Friday, the 18th of July at the Off Broadway Theatre in Downtown Salt Lake. The play runs from July 18th - August 18th every Friday, Saturday and Monday night at 7 pm.

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

2008-07-15T01:26:00.002-06:00

The Dark Knight Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace.

10 out of 10

Before I get into the specifics of my review for The Dark Knight, there are a few things that I would like to clarify about the film that may help you decide whether or not the film is for you, and for parents, if it is really a film that your younger teenager should see.

I loved the film on so many different levels, but most of those levels are pretty complex. First of all, The Dark Knight is more of a crime drama than a comic book movie. There are some really great action sequences, but a majority of the film's most interesting moments are within the drama between the characters. It is very character driven and some of the explorations of the characters, mostly The Joker, are very disturbing and downright frightening.

The issues that unfold in the film are also very deep and complex. Batman dealing with his id, ego, and superego, wondering what makes him different from any of the villains he is trying to protect Gotham City from. The Joker, and his anarchist ideals that he believes in. And last but not least, Harvey Dent, a new District Attorney who is brave enough to stand up to any crook or villain in town, until tragedy strikes, and he questions everything that he believes about being good or bad.

Because of the complexity of the story and the drama that take place, on top of the very dark and gruesome nature of the Joker and his antics, I suggest that kids under the age of 16 wait until they are older to see the film to truly appreciate it for what it is. A very well made crime drama that just happens to have a man in a bat suit and a villain with his face painted like a deranged clown in a handful of amazing action sequences. I just really feel that anyone younger than a high school student won't really understand the story as a whole, or what messages it is trying to convey.

Director Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins and The Prestige, also co-wrote the screenplay with his brother, Jonathan. Their script is borderline genius. The story picks up a short time after Batman Begins ends. There has been a rise in crime since the Batman has appeared on the scene of Gotham and the courts are full of crime lords and followers ready to take the fall for their bosses.

However, newly appointed District Attorney, Harvey Dent, played incredibly by Aaron Eckhart, knows the weaknesses of the criminals and is able to exploit them and put them behind bars. He also is interested in Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, filling in for Katie Holmes from the first film in the series. However, Bruce Wayne/Batman, played again by Christian Bale, is jealous that Dent is moving in on his potential girlfriend, but also knows that he is a good man and that Gotham needs him where he is.

In the meantime, a murdering bandit known as The Joker, played brilliantly by Heath Ledger, is terrorizing the citizens of Gotham and trying to get the support, and respect, of Gothams organized crime ring. With the fall of crime boss, Carmine Falcone, in Batman Begins, a new boss has taken his place, Salvatore Maroni, played by Eric Roberts.

The Joker tries to become involved with Maroni's men and tries to talk them into killing Batman since he is what they all fear the most. However, we soon realize that The Joker really wants to team up with Batman and rule the city. That of course doesn't sit right with our hero, but it does start a chain of thoughts making Bruce Wayne wonder if his alter-ego is really helping the city, or making it worse.

However, Bruce realizes that there is a difference between a hero that the people want, and a hero that the people need. On the other side of the spectrum, The Joker is making it hard for Batman to stick to his rules and beliefs by placing him in very hard situations where he must decide some pretty terrible fates. I don't want to discuss the plot anymore from this point on, since it is the plot that is so much fun getting lost in.

The Joker scenes are terrific and terrifying. There are times you laugh at what happens, and then feel sick for laughing at it. You get excited to see what he is going to do next, and you also fear at what he is going to do next. I literally chewed half of my fingernails off during those scenes. It was very well done. I think that there will be a lot of best actor or best supporting actor Academy Award talk when people see the film, but I don't think that it is really a role that would really win the award had Heath Ledger been alive, and I think that he would agree with me on that. It is, however, worth a nomination.

Michael Caine as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox are both incredible in their roles. Once again, Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon is fantastic. I can't say enough good things about the acting.

Like I said, this film is really something else. It is incredibly deep, but terrifyingly gruesome and dark. The language is kept to a minimal, but the dark tones really keep it to a high PG-13 rating.

Also, along the lines of comic book films, if you want to avoid long lines and crowded theaters, I would also recommend Hellboy 2. It was very unique and interesting to watch. It wasn't as cheesy as the first film, and there is something fascinating to look at every second. I give it an 8 out of 10.

The Most Crazy Summer In A Long Time...

2008-07-13T03:50:00.004-06:00

This summer has certainly been full of ups and downs and crazy experiences for Angie and me. Angie is usually busy with work during the summer, and this summer is no different, but she is helping out a lot in other things that I am involved with. It has been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, and, in some respects, some drama that doesn't really need to be there. All in all, I would say we are doing very well, and having a good time. I just want to share some things that have been going on this summer that will probably continue until the end of August, beginning of September.

1.- I am currently rehearsing for the musical 12 Dancing Princesses at the Off Broadway Theater downtown Salt Lake. We open next weekend, and anyone who has been in a play before can testify that the last week of rehearsals is a killer. I am excited, but nervous, just like the other shows I have been in. It has been an awesome experience getting to know different people and performing at a different theater than I am used to performing at. Our show opens on the 18th of July and runs every Monday, Friday, and Saturday until the 18th of August. Check http://www.theobt.com/ for showtimes and dates and seating availability.

(Speaking of which, I still love the Empress theater and suggest going to both my show at the Off Broadway Theater, and attending 7 Brides for 7 Brothers at the Empress. Angie and I went last night, and it was great. Both Steve Harmon and Liz Oates were fantastic, and it would take me too long to name all of our other friends in the show here, but you know who you are, and you all have done a great job at putting a wonderful show together).

2.- The Jesters Royale....Or Surely You Jest. Speaking of the Empress Theatre, the improv team I have been involved with since last November kind of had a bunch of changes come about. OHPAA, the organization who owns the Empress Theatre wanted their own improv team, where as Work In Progress wasn't officially a part of the OHPAA organization. So, we basically reorganized the team and renamed it to something else that would reflect the name of the theater. The newly organized team has a lot of talent, and just to let you in on some neat things about the new structure, we will mostly focus on Improv Comedy, which is what we have always done, but we are also going to be doing special shows where we write our own plays, sketch comedy, musical numbers, and other variety entertainment dealing with the comedic arts. We want everyone to know that we don't just goof off on stage every weekend night, we are very devout to the theatrical arts and love all forms of theater, comedic or not. You can get more information on our shows at http://www.thejestersroyale.com/ It is actually run and modified by me, so if there is something you want to see there, just send me an email. There are still a lot of changes coming soon, so check back frequently.

3. One of the coolest things that I have been doing since September of last year is working as a film critic for The Magna Times, West Valley News, and Kearns Post. This summer has been crazy because I just got in with a press agency based out of Denver that organizes about 85% of all movie critic screenings here in Utah. So, between rehearsals and The Jesters Royale, I also attend a few movie screenings a week. Sometimes I can take Angie or a friend with me, but there are a lot of times that I can only go with the other critics, which is fun. I have also had some awesome opprotunities to meet really neat people. A few blog posts down on this site, you can read an interview that I wrote after I met with the Writer and Director of Wall-E and Finding Nemo, which by the way, Wall-E is my favorite film of the year so far, but am going to see The Dark Knight on Monday morning at a critics only screening, so that might change. It has been really interesting getting to know the different critics around the valley and see what they are really like behind the print of the press.

4. Family dealings. There have been a lot of family things going on for both Angie's side of the family, and mine. Angie's mostly deal with birthdays, and mine mostly deal with a 95 year old grandpa and a super nice great uncle that have death knocking on their door. They are both awesome, but when you see them in the shape they are in and realize that they have led great lives full of happiness, there is comfort in knowing that they can pass on to the next life and be rid of the problems that they have now that their bodies are starting to fail them.

Angie helps me out where she can with little things like running the Box Office for improv or helping me get to where I need to be with food in my stomach. It can be hard on her sometimes, rushing around all over the place, but she is awesome, and I love her for it. I married a great person.

Well, that just about wraps up what has been going on with us the past couple of months.

Old School Is Usually The Best School: Part 2

2008-07-08T02:46:00.002-06:00

Last week, I wrote a blog about how older things can be better than newer things, especially with technology, specifically video games. I am so happy to inform you all that Nintendo is releasing a new Mega Man game over the Wii Download Community, Wii Ware. It is going to be a true sequel to the old NES Mega Man games, so Mega Man 9, and best of all, they are doing it in True NES fashion, 8 bit graphics. The awesome thing about the newer technology is that they have more space for the games, so if they make games in 8 bit graphics, they can make super long games that last a while. I think that this is a great idea, and I hope that more game companies will go back to their roots and make more games like this.

Old School is Usually The Best School...

2008-06-26T13:04:00.002-06:00

When I was less than a year old, my parents bought an Atari Video game System for Christmas. A couple of days later, they returned it and bought a Colecovision, which was Atari's competition back then. Think Playstation 3 Vs. Xbox 360. I remember playing the Coleco when I was a little kid, and was sad when it didn't work anymore. However, by the time that it stopped working, I had received a brand new, state of the art, Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES. That's right, the 23 year old original Nintendo system. It's graphics were better than the Coleco, it's games were longer and more complex than the Coleco, and yet, somehow the Nintendo lacked a certain charm that the Coleco had.

Flash Forward to 2002. After owning a Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment system, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Cube, and a Playstation 2, I searched ebay and bought a brand new, still in the box Coleco Vision with a bunch of games for 30 bucks. Best Ebay Auction Ever!

Now, I have played a lot of video games over the years, and especially, recently owning a Nintendo Wii and a Playstation 3, with my brother-in-law's Xbox 360 in the same house we live in, I have played every popular video game franchise to come out in the past few years. I love video games, but I have to be honest, There isn't anything out today that wasn't just as much fun, or in some cases even as fun, as the games I had for the Colecovision. I have been finding as I have been getting a little bit older that just because things are newer and hipper doesn't mean they are better. They just have more technology behind them, which can sometimes be a hindrance.

Old Hobby, New Gadget

2008-06-23T14:05:00.003-06:00

So this past weekend, Nate decided that he had been kind of, well, a jerk as of late. And both he and I realized I needed a hobby for something to do so I'm not bored or stressed all the time. So, we found a hobby for me to do, however, it is not new. I've been into it before, just haven't done much with it lately because I had run out of ideas and kind of got bored with the tools I had been using for years. So, Nate decided to get me a present to help him say "Sorry I've been a jerk" (which he didn't actually need to get me anything to do that with, but the gesture is sweet), and to help me in getting back into a hobby I love to do, but haven't done for a while. So the gift that Nate got me is...... a Cricut Expressions! I'm so excited. I've been wanting one for awhile, but just couldn't justify it enough to buy it for myself. It is so cool. I'm so excited to get back into scrapbooking again, and to make cards and stuff. We have already made some signs for Nate's Improv team WIP for their concessions and stuff at their shows! It's awesome. When I get some more stuff done I'll take and post some pics. Anyway, thanks Nate. I love you (and I would still even if you didn't get me anything! )

Old Glory Tears

2008-06-20T08:10:00.001-06:00

Today on my way to work I saw something that I never would have thought would have affected me as much as it did. This morning as I was driving pass one of those strip mall shopping areas, I saw an American flag on a flag pole in front of one of them. I smiled and then took a closer look and tears began to fall from my eyes. The flag was dirty and the ends were in shreds! How disrespectful and embarrassing. It really got me thinking. I have always loved the American Flag and what it stands for. There have been many Men and Women who have lost their lives fighting for the freedom The Flag stands for. In these times of much turmoil in the world I am very grateful for the founding Fathers, and for the military. Many of my family members have served in the military and although things were rough and they (or we) may not always agree with the ways things have been fought and dealt with, they have all been proud and faithful servants to this great country. My grandfather, Creed Weight, served in the Navy during WWII. He told us a few stories, mostly the funny ones where they would go to shore for leave and all his buddies would be getting drunk and he went along to make sure they all got back to the ship okay. But other than that, he would not talk about it much. Once he did mention a little about what it was like. After seeing the movie "Saving Private Ryan" I asked him if that was really what it was like, with all the bodies in the water when the Marines were trying to get up on shore. He said it was. He never said much more than that, at least from what I can remember. He is no longer with us, it has been almost 2 years since he passed away. It was actually at his funeral that we learned much more about my grandfather's navy career. The two old gentleman that were there from the funeral home had also served in the military during WWII. We had on display at the funeral, my grandfather's Navy blues and a picture of him and everyone who was on his ship during that time. There were some pins on his uniform that we never knew what they were for. These 2 gentleman were able to give us some more insight to what my grandfather had been through during the war. I don't remember the name of his ship, but they said that it was a pretty well known one. One of the pins he had had 4 or so star pins on it. The men said that those stood for how many battles he was in, and pretty important ones too from knowing about the ship he served on. As I said before, grampa never talked much about the war. It wasn't until after he died and family was going through my grampa's things that they discovered some certificates awarding him some medals for his service and things he did in the Navy during the war. I don't remember exactly what they were, but he had never collected them. That was a part of his life he always wanted to forget. We were able to collect these medals and we had them very nicely arranged in a shadow box with the American Flag that was given to my grandmother at my grampa's funeral. This will be a treasure that I think our family will hold dear for generations to come, I hope. I am grateful and honored that my grampa served his country that he loved so well, even if it did bring experiences and memories he wanted to forget. I also had an uncle who was in the Marines who was shipped over seas in the first Gulf War. It was hard for him to be away from such a young family, and it was hard for his family too. My cousin Josh, who is a Marine, just returned from Iraq about a month ago after serving there for almost a year. I am proud of his service and glad that he has returned home safely. I have another cousin who is in special forces for the Army, has is currently in Afghanistan. I am so grateful for all my family who have or is serving in the military, for the freedoms that they and millions of people since the colonizing of the Americas have fought to bring to this country. I don't always agree with some of the conflicts, but I am proud of all who have served and I love them all. Let us never forget the sacrifices these Men and Women and their families have made and continue to make so that we may have the freedoms that we enjoy every day. And always remember to fly the flag high and proud, and keep it in excellent condition. It deserves the respect.

My First Real Interview...

2008-06-03T04:18:00.002-06:00

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend a screening for the new Disney/Pixar film, Wall-E. Monday afternoon, I was able to go to the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City and interview Writer/Director, Andrew Stanton, who also wrote and directed Finding Nemo. I wrote my article about it for the paper which will probably be cut up and edited, and I wanted to share the original, uncut article. Sorry if it doesn't read as smoothly as an edited article, but you will get the idea.

Writer/Director Andrew Stanton is a busy man. As the ninth man hired at the Pixar Animation Studios, Andrew has spent most of his career writing scripts and overseeing all artistic and creative processes on every film that has been released by Pixar. With Pixar's track record, that is no easy task. Pixar has continually released some of the best films, animated or not, over the past decade, and Pixar's latest, Wall-E is no exception.

I was able to sit down for an interview with Andrew after the screening of the film earlier this week. Even though I am legally not allowed to release my review of the film until the week that Wall-E opens, I can share some parts of the interview with all of you.

Pixar prides itself on many different things, but the most important part of their films are the storytelling elements. "It's (the storytelling) so woven into the fabric of everything we try to do. If we don't have an answer, it lets us know that we haven't done enough work on the story. If you are doing your job right, you are never repeating the same story twice".

There are many elements in the story of Wall-E that are original, but there are a lot of details in the story borrowed from other films such as: Hello Dolly, 2001: A Space Odyssey, City Lights, and Star Wars. In fact, just like City Lights, the Charlie Chaplin classic, Wall-E almost feels like a silent film, but it isn't.

"You are hearing Dialog from the get go, but it's very indirect...you hear either something on a piece of video, and that will help you get some information, there will be a lot of pantomime acting to get things across, sounds coming from a character that you kind of hope comes across as "I think it's sad", "I think it's happy", "I think it's impatient", but to me, that's actually a different way of telling a story. It's a little bit more involving for the audience. It's forcing you to pay a little bit more attention and finish the equation. When you have to finish the equation for yourself, you have to apply your own personal experiences to understand the character, as opposed to that character just telling you how they feel. It's powerful stuff".

Andrew went on to say this about the different films that gave him inspiration while in the process of developing the film.

"We watched a different Charlie Chaplin film or Buster Keaton film everyday at lunch for, like, a year and a half. They ,(the silent films), weren't limiting at all. They could tell everything they ever wanted to tell. We were inspired by many silent films. To me, Wall-E is a modern day Buster Keaton because Buster Keaton was known as the great Stone Face, and that is exactly what Wall-E is. He has no expressions".

Wall-E is a great film, with a great story, and the original idea for the film came about one year before Pixar's debut film, Toy Story, was released. So, why did it take so long for Wall-E to get made?

"We thought that it would be so cool to make a movie like this, back then, but then thought, no one is going to ever let us do this. We didn't have much confidence back then. You got to remember that we were in our twenties and we hadn't even proved that Toy Story was even going to work. We just knew that nobody would ever let us try something that risky. I think the kind of move that we pictured in our head is what you are seeing now, but I don't think that we could have made that any sooner. Technology had to catch up to get that kind of a look, like the great sci-fi movies of the seventies. We were first time filmmakers on Toy Story, so I think that we are better filmmakers now, and we know how to tell a better story now. In other words, we were up for the challenge".

Last year, when Ratatouille was released, I felt that it was one of the best films of the year, and even though it had a cute mouse and fun characters, it didn't seem like a "kids movie" or a "family movie". It didn't have any questionable content in it, but it didn't seem to be directed at kids as the other Pixar films did. Wall-E is the same in these regards. Was Pixar always meant to make "family films". or just good movies that are for all ages?

"If you go back to every interview since Toy Story came out, we have said that we never try to guess who our audience is going to be. Never. I don't go to see a movie to guess what someone thinks I want. I go to see what that artist's vision is, and that's all we've ever done. We are film goers first, and filmmakers second. All you are seeing are the kinds of movies that we like to see. We are just fortunate that those films appeal to all ages. The age difference might slide a little bit, but it is for all ages because we aren't thinking about any ages when we make the films".

I thought that answer was interesting since I have heard interviews for films with PG-13 or R ratings with questionable content that never really needed to be there in the first place. Most filmmakers will tell you that they put those things in there because they think that is what the general movie-going public wants. Andrew felt very different.

"I want to give the audience a lot more credit than that. I respect the audience tremendously, and I want to be that respected as an audience member myself. I just feel like that is disrespectful and short-changing the integrity of the audience out there. I just think that they are way smarter than that. And kids. Kids are way smarter than people give them credit for. Some people will ask me if their kids will have an easy time understanding the film, and I say, "Are you kidding? Kids will have an easier time than the adults". They (kids) spend their entire day trying to figure out what adults are doing and they have the strongest muscle in the world working 24/7 to solve stuff. They are already wired to look at the world like that. It's the adults that get complacent and shut it off".

Mostly everyone who goes and sees Wall-E will feel that the overall message of the film is respect for the planet and to keep it clean, but that really isn't the intended message of the film.

"I felt that literal robots are programmed, but everybody in life is programmed, everybody has habits and faults that they go into, and they can basically fill their day to the point where they feel that they have been occupied 24/7, but they have never really made contact with another person. They have never really moved a relationship forward and connected with somebody, and you can basically be distracted until you die. I felt that was a perfect thematic issue for the main characters, and I thought that if enough disregard happens for people with each other, it would effect the whole planet in and of itself. So the whole thing is wrapped up in that. I wanted you, from the very first frame, to enjoy trying to figure things out for yourself. To me, some of the best movies have that element".

As you can already tell, Wall-E has a great message, a great story, and a great team working behind the scenes to bring it to us. Catch Wall-E when it opens everywhere on June 27th, and check out the review that same week. Wall-E is rated G and is accompanied by another great Pixar short, my favorite to date, Presto.

And My Vote Is....

2008-05-28T04:42:00.004-06:00

So, 2008 is a big year for the presidential election, am I right? Well, I just happen to know of a bigger and more important decision that is taking place this summer, and do you want to know what it is?

Soda Pop!

Mountain Dew has released three new flavors that will only be here for a month or two, and then only one will win out and become the new, lasting taste of the popular soft drink.

It is now official that Mountain Dew, after this summer is over, will have more franchise drinks than CSI has franchise TV shows.

I went out and bought all three different flavors and have put them to the test.

Before I go any further, I have to mention a couple of things.

#1. I hate original Mountain Dew. I think it has a weird taste, and an even weirder after taste. I don't like it and usually refer to it as Rocky Mountain Pee Water.

#2. I have always liked Mountain Dew: Code Red. Mostly because it sounds like a Kick-A$$ action film starring any of your favorite Pro Wrestlers or Vin Diesel, of whom I really don't like, but action movies are fun.

#3. The first Mountain Dew: Live Wire, which sounds like another action movie sequel to Code Red, but didn't turn out as good, but is still pretty cool like the National Treasure films, that I tried. I hated. My dad had bought a bunch of other soda brands also because there was a sale, so I drank all of the other sodas, including Canada Dry, which I also do not like at all, I mean, come on, it has Canada in the title. Canada! Anyways, needless to say, thanks to my over-urged soda pop addiction, I drank all of the other soda, leaving me with two choices....Water....the essence of life...........or........Mountain Dew: Live Wire.......which has more flavor that water, even though I hated the flavor. In the end, I drank all 11 remaining cans in 36 hours....couldn't sleep for 72 hours, and after sleep decided, wow, I really acquired a taste for Mountain Dew: Live Wire.

#4. The Taco-Bell sponsored Mountain Dew: Baja Blast, which looks like it belongs in a water park for some reason. I really don't like this flavor at all because it has too much of the original Mountain Dew Flavor and the Baja Blast portion of the soda tastes like someone mixed some Gatorade in with it. I don't like it at all.

#5. Other Mountain Dew flavors have come and gone, including a lot of different Slurpee flavors from 7-11, but nothing special enough to note except for the Halo cans containing Mountain Dew: Fuel, which was both disgusting, and in my opinion the only way that Halo 3 could break video game records by saying that it made more money, by far, than any other video game in history. Yeah, only because they counted on the millions of teenagers that were already addicted to both Mountain Dew and Halo. They should make a new Mountain Dew flavor that promotes getting jobs and dating real girls. That way maybe more teens would be off their butts and actually contributing to society instead of becoming masters of killing the Covenant.

So, there you have it. I like come of the new flavors of Mountain Dew a lot better than the original, so of course, I was curious.

So, here we are.

On the left, we have Mountain Dew: Voltage. "Dew charged with Raspberry Citrus Flavor and Ginseng".

What did I think? This one was actually pretty good. I liked the raspberry flavor and the citrus. I actually thought that the citrus would make it taste more like cough syrup. I was wrong.

In the middle, we have Mountain Dew: Revolution. "Dew infused with Wild Berry Fruit Flavor and Ginseng".

What did I think? This was the one that tasted like the cough syrup. The wild berry was a great step in the right direction, but it had too much of the original flavor mixed in with it, and it just gave it a weird taste, a lot like the Baja Blast. By far the worst of the three. Instead of Mountain Dew: Revolution, they should have called it Mountain Dew: Revoulting. Same root word, very different meanings.

And, last, but not least, on the right, we have Mountain Dew: Supernova. "Dew with a Blast of Strawberry and Melon Flavor and Ginseng".

What did I think? Genius. This is by far the best of the three. It almost tastes like you are drinking two liquified Strawberry and Watermelon Jolly Ranchers. It has it's own unique taste. Even though I did like the Mountain Dew: Voltage pretty well, I just couldn't see it beating out Supernova. Supernova has a cool name, a great taste, I mean, come on, who doesn't like strawberry? and It has a really cool lavender color to it.

So what next?

Starting in June, you will be able to go to http://www.dewmocracy.com/ and vote for your favorite flavor. You should all go there and vote for the Supernova and make your pal, Nate, happy. After the voting takes place, the winner will be announced, and the other two flavors will disappear like Haley Joel Osment after he hit puberty.

Go ahead and give all three a try while they are around though, and see if you agree with me. Just like Reading Rainbow...."You don't have to take my word for it....Duh duh duh"

Being A Nice Friend Really Sucks Sometimes...

2008-05-26T04:15:00.005-06:00

Okay, so, everyone who knows me well knows that I am into a lot of different things and hobbies and what not. Everyone who is my friend also knows that I am a very caring person who is there for them anytime.

Most of the time, it is a good thing, but then there are other times when I feel frustrated like I do right now.

I just feel that sometimes, my friends care more about what they want to do than taking turns and asking what someone else wants to do, including me. I feel so frustrated when my friends won't go do something with me because it may not be their cup of tea, but then I go along with them no matter how much I don't like something. I get so fed up with never getting to do something that I would like to do when I feel like all I ever do is support my friends and do the things that they want to do.

For instance, Angie and I were in a curling league for a while. Not the most exciting sport, I will admit, but it is different and fun, if you give it a chance and go and learn for a couple of hours. The sessions lasted for two hours. We were always inviting friends to go and check it out with us, and not one single person came with us. We did it for a year and every single week, we invited our friends to come and try it with us. It never happened.

However, I turn around, and I go out to places that we go to every weekend time and time again. I watch movies that I hate or have seen a million times because that is what our friends want to do. I do a whole bunch of other things for them that I may not want to do, watch, or listen to, yet, I never feel like they give one care about me. A lot of things that I do and love, I want to share with my friends, and I don't feel that I am given an opprotunity to because they don't care enough to support me in something for two hours here, or an afternoon there.

Another example. I don't like the video game Halo at all, However, I love to spend time with my two brother in laws, and our two friends, Joe and Jake. Yesterday, we spent eight hours playing Halo, and when I asked if we could play one of my multi-player games for a few minutes, they said no, and then they proceeded to be jerks and tell me that if I wasn't having fun with them that I could leave, and I totally felt like I was back in second grade again.

People can be so freaking selfish sometimes, and it really hurts. I don't expect to do everything that I want to do all of the time.

Oh, and that is the other thing, I have friends that will not go with me to do things because they don't want to, but then call up all of our other friends and talk them into not going with me, so I end up doing a lot of things by myself anyways.

I just think that if you have friends, that you should cherish them and respect them, and that everyone should give their friends a chance to choose an activity because they love it and want to share it, or at least have a fun experience by doing it with their close friends.

Like I said, I never expect to have my way a lot of the time, but once in a freakin' while, I would really like to play one of my video games, or go play one of my sports, or hike where I like to hike, or eat where I like to eat.

Anyways, I just wanted to get that off of my chest. Please, next time you want to do soemthing with your friends, ask them what they want to do, and if it is something that you may not want to do, be kind and loving enough to support them anyways. You never know, you just might have a great time anyways.

Tagged!

2008-05-10T20:24:00.002-06:00

I, Angie, have been tagged!

How to play this game of tag. Post these rules on your blog. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

3 Joys:
1. Watching my husband perform on stage. He amazes me every time with how much talent he has and the things he can come up with for his characters.
2. Dancing! I haven't done this much in the past few years and I miss it greatly. When I was younger I used to dance around the kitchen and in the bathroom. I would drive my mom crazy!
3. Pictures. Everything about them. I like taking them, scrapbooking them, looking at them and reminiscing about the memories those pictures represent.

3 Fears:
1. Speaking and\or Singing (solo) in front of people. I go VERY red most the time when I do have to do this. However, I have been working on conquering this fear. I have auditioned for 2 different plays in the last month. (didn't make either one) One I only had to sing in front of 3 people, but I was so nervous and scared I psyched myself out and forgot the words and sang very badly. The second audition I had to sing in front of the directors and everybody else who was there to audition. I did much better at the singing, I was still nervous so I was quiet. I also had to do a reading for this audition, did okay, but at callbacks I had to do an improv scene instead of a reading. I didn't do too well, I was so scared and nervous. But with the support of my husband and some great friends, I am going to continue to work at this so that it will no longer be on my most feared list.
2. That I will not be able to have kids.
3. Failing. At anything.

3 Goals:
1. Get out of debt
2. Lose some weight and get back into shape
3. Own our own place within the next couple of years.

3 Current obsessions\collections:
1. LOST. One of our friends just got us into it. I've been watching the DVD's trying to catch up for the last few weeks. I am so hooked!
2. Facebook. I am really addicted to finding old friends I've lost touch with and to playing the pillow fight on facebook. I am now a "pillow superhero" and am well on my way to being a "pillow god"
3. Wii games. Mostly the new Mario Kart and Trauma Center. They are a blast!

3 Random surprising facts about myself:
1. I'm blind in my right eye. I was hit with a rock when I was seven years old.
2. As graceful as I am in dancing, I can be pretty clumsy in every other area of my life.
3. My guilty pleasure.......I love the show "The Family Guy". I know, sometimes it can be down right disgusting and appalling, but most of the time, it is really funny to me.

I have tagged: Amber, Christy, Jenni, Candice, and Kristen

Counting Down To The Best Thing Since My Marriage....I Hope!

2008-05-08T01:52:00.001-06:00

I am so excited for the new Indiana Jones movie that I can't see straight. I already have my tickets and possibly an early screening for my critic job.

My First Free Monday...

2008-04-28T06:54:00.004-06:00

So, I was thinking this morning how every single Monday since December has found me at the Empress Theatre either performing or rehearsing because of a performance that is coming up very soon. It is strange for me to think that today, I don't have to worry about doing anything except spending quality time with my wife and maybe play some games or something with the family. It is very nice to have some free time finally, but I do want to report on the following, since I didn't before due to lack of time.

#1.- I want to report on the closing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In a nutshell, I am really bummed out. I really miss seeing everyone in our wonderful cast. I have been busy putting a DVD together full of interviews and pictures for a gift to give everyone in the cast at our cast party coming up here on Wednesday. I am really going to miss playing the role of Joseph, mainly because I was able to make the character my own instead of trying to imitate Donny Osmond or anybody else I have seen. I used my improv muscles to really make the character my own, and I had a blast doing it, and I feel that the audience really took to that. I was so nervous before the show opened that people wouldn't like me as Joseph much, just because of my physical traits. Nothing really stands out too much. I am not buff, I am not the best looking guy, but what made my character great was the personality I gave it, which was pretty much my own personality, and the crowd really accepted me as the hero of the show. I couldn't have done it without our wonderful directors, musicians, choreographers, and of course, everyone else in the cast. I really love all of you guys so much and am so glad that we got to do a great show together. I will never forget any of you.

#2.- The One Act Play Festival that the Empress had came and went very quickly. It only ran for a week and a day, but it was really fun to do. It was pretty hectic doing the show every single night though. It got kind of crazy there those last couple of days, but I really am going to miss it. I was cast in a play written by Meghan Chase from Riverton High School here in Utah called The Casualties. It is a story about a man who goes to apologize to an elderly couple for hitting and killing their little boy in a car accident, but finds that they have both passed away. He then gets stuck in an elevator with their daughter, the sister of the boy he hit and killed. He has tortured himself throughout his life, and he has issues loving his family since he can't forgive himself for the hit and run accident years and years ago. It is a very sad play, but has a beautiful message of hope and forgiveness of ones self. I really hope that I will be able to perform the play again sometime in my life. I really really loved it. I feel that even though Joseph was my most popular character that I have been able to play, Holloway from The Casualties is my all time favorite character that I have played. It was a wonderful experience. I was in the Deseret Morning News Newspaper with two pictures from our rehearsal for The Casualties. The girl in the photos with me is Amy Krantz. She played Joy, and we got to be good friends performing this play together. Here are the photos:

#3.- Our computer got some spyware and totally crashed. We had to wipe it clean and load everything back onto it. We are up and running again, and luckily all of our pictures and music and movies that we have on our computer are all on an external hard drive. Nothing important was lost. It was just a really long and hard week.

#4.- We bought Mario Kart Wii and some extra Wii Steering Wheels for it. It is really really really fun. We had a great time playing with my parents. Mario Kart is their all-time favorite game, however, I think that the Wii Zapper game, The Ledgend of Zelda" Link's Crossbow Training is going to take that #1 spot soon. They love it.

The Real Homer...

2008-04-19T02:24:00.004-06:00

So, I am constantly amazed with what people can do with digital media these days, and this is no exception. I found this on a website that I usually go to for technology, movie, and video game news. www.g4tv.com/thefeed . They had a link to a site where they took cartoon and video game characters and made them into real people using photoshop. However, they keep their same cartoony features.

Here is Mario, if he were a real person...

And here, (it still scares me a little bit, ha ha ha) is the real Homer Simpson...

I guess what they do is take a cartoon or video game character, find a whole bunch of photos of celebrities online with similar features, and just mix and match until all of the dimensions and traits fit the original picture. I think that it is pretty darn creative, but pretty freaky at the same time... What do you think?

Olympics and Politics

2008-04-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

Okay, so as some of you know, I, Angie, am an Olympics-a-holic. I love them. When the Olympics are taking place, I don't do much of anything else but watch them, except of course the things that absolutely need to get done, like going to work, eating, etc.. Now I don't know if any of you have been hearing the buzz surrounding the Beijing China Olympics, but the latest has really got me peeved! The Olympics are about athletes from all walks of life, no matter their race, religion, color, background, culture, etc, coming together to compete and show off their talents and years of hard work, determination and sacrifice for their chosen sport. Now I know that every one of them deep down want to win, who wouldn't, especially in front of the whole world, but a lot of them are just grateful and honored to represent themselves, their family and their country in the greatest and oldest sporting event of all time. I especially admire those who come from the small impoverished countries who do not have the resources available to them for training as do some of the "powerhouse" countries like the U.S, England, Germany, Russia, etc. They know they don't really have much of a chance of winning, but the fact that they are there, and that they have put in the time and sacrificed many things that most of us couldn't even imagine impresses me. Now the thing that is really upsetting me is all this protesting as the Olympic torch makes it's way from Greece to China. And the talk of boycott's makes me sick. I know China has a history of civil unrest, especially when it comes to civil rights and such, but come on. Can't people trust the Olympic committee that chose Beijing for the Olympics? Don't you think they had the same concerns and that there will be security in place for the events? I know that things have happened in the past and that there is always a chance of it happening again, especially where there will be an extremely large amounts of people congregated. It is a great disservice and insulting to the athletes for all this controversy, which is really all about politics. Government officials don't like it when people don't see things there way, so they'll do things like this to try to convince or force people to do what they want them too. It makes me sick. Why can't people just let the athletes come and compete and tell the world their stories through their performance. The Olympics are about everyone coming together in peace and harmony and friendly competition, lets keep it that way and KEEP POLITICS OUT!! Sorry for the ranting, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately and just wanted to voice my opinion. How do you out there feel about it?

Hate Self, Hate Self...

2008-04-09T06:36:00.002-06:00

I don't know why I find this video that I found on Youtube so funny, but I love this clip. It is from a show on the BBC over in England called Mitchell & Webb. Enjoy!