Hey all! I just finished up working on the conference I haven been helping to plan/execute for the last 8 months. It was a great success, and I may blog about it soon when I get some photos of it. Notwithstanding its massive success, it came at a price...actually few of them.
Price #1: I put in a record 90 hours or work within 7 days (that even includes taking the Sabbath off). Good thing the place where I work has a bigger budget than most other university departments. I work well, but after 40 hours, I'm not cheap.
Price #2: I was running off of 5-6 hours of sleep a night during the week of the conference. To some of you this may seem normal, but to me, it took its toll on my sanity. I require a hefty dose of REM's to keep my mind from wigging out.
Price #3: Connected with the previous loss of sanity from lack of sleep, my well-being also suffered from a lack of good chocolate milk. I was forced to consume the U of U chocolate milk for 5 days over the course of the conference breakfasts. Don't get me wrong, I rarely refuse food in any form, yet compared with the glorious chocolate milk of my alma mater, this U's pithy substitute did little to medicate me in my moment of emotional need.
It was a crazy week, and it proved to be a little much in the end. I checked into 'overtime rehab' last Monday and didn't check out until Wednesday morning. I may have to write a little about that one too in a future post if enough people ask me continue asking me about it.
Anyways, on to the focus of this post. Needless to say, I now have a little more "disposable income" than I had budgeted for, and now need a few suggestions on how to eliminate it as fast as possible. Please kindly post any suggestions.
24 June 2008
24 May 2008
it takes a village
The following is an open letter to all you folks who take time to visit my blog:
Most revered readers,
My sincere apologies to all y'alls for not writing very much in the last month. I know many of you spend almost 10-15 seconds a week checking this site out to see if I have spewed forth any new ridiculousness and/or finally made good on that promise to post that very real and completely authentic treasure map to the lost city of El Dorado.
Well, I haven't.
Sorry, but I am currently a little busy. If you would like to see what occupies most of my waking hours between 9-5pm six days a week, you may take a look by visiting this website: ICED2008.org
If you want to see what currently gets most of my attention from the hours of 4-7pm of many weekdays feel free to visit: here or here.
Lastly, if you still wonder why I don't seem to have enough time to sit down and contribute to the world wide blogosphere, its probably because I am trying to put a little more time/energy into this aspect of my life.
Lest you get overly excited for the forthcoming day when the aforementioned activities cease to take up much of my time, don't forget my favorite June pastime and this little resource that I hope to use much more often when work/school cools off, and the weather heats up.
So my loyal readers, although I hate to burst your blog-reading bubble, but you must realize that the summertime does not produce optimum conditions for me sitting at a computer with the sole purpose of dumping out my most obscure thoughts and travelogues. However, I promise not to be so stingy with my future postings as I was in the month of May.
Best regards,
Walker
Most revered readers,
My sincere apologies to all y'alls for not writing very much in the last month. I know many of you spend almost 10-15 seconds a week checking this site out to see if I have spewed forth any new ridiculousness and/or finally made good on that promise to post that very real and completely authentic treasure map to the lost city of El Dorado.
Well, I haven't.
Sorry, but I am currently a little busy. If you would like to see what occupies most of my waking hours between 9-5pm six days a week, you may take a look by visiting this website: ICED2008.org
If you want to see what currently gets most of my attention from the hours of 4-7pm of many weekdays feel free to visit: here or here.
Lastly, if you still wonder why I don't seem to have enough time to sit down and contribute to the world wide blogosphere, its probably because I am trying to put a little more time/energy into this aspect of my life.
Lest you get overly excited for the forthcoming day when the aforementioned activities cease to take up much of my time, don't forget my favorite June pastime and this little resource that I hope to use much more often when work/school cools off, and the weather heats up.
So my loyal readers, although I hate to burst your blog-reading bubble, but you must realize that the summertime does not produce optimum conditions for me sitting at a computer with the sole purpose of dumping out my most obscure thoughts and travelogues. However, I promise not to be so stingy with my future postings as I was in the month of May.
Best regards,
Walker
29 April 2008
Bollywood bonanza
So last night some of my friends threw a Bollywood night. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Bollywood is India's equivalent to Hollywood. Despite being homeless at the time, and being engaged in a semi-casual search of a place to live, I couldn't in good conscience turn down an opportunity to eat some amazing home-cooked Indian food and watch a film with a dozen of my friends. It was a blast!
The best part of Bollywood night was that we watched a Bollywood film. Allison did some fantastic recon and found four or five different filsm we had to choose from. The one we finally settled on was Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Brave-hearted will take the Bride) starring one of the demi-gods of Indian pop film, Shahrukh Khan. Let me break it down for you:
I know of no good Bollywood films that have running times of less than 3 hours. This film was no exception. Melanie put it best when she commented after the movie, "I can't remember what life was like before we started watching that movie!" It was long, but it was power packed.
You see, in addition to being many hours long, each blessed Bollywood movie combines at least like 5 differnt genres. You gotta have the romance, you always have some of the kung-fu fighting (in all its obviously fake punching glory), you get musicals complete with the best choreography your eyes will ever witness, you are never at a loss for the comedy element, and always the good Indian culture/moral instruction throughout every film. Believe you me, any self-respecting Bollywood film has got the plot twists and turns to weave all these elements together like this was going to be the last movie ever produced. It's pretty crazy.
Another cool thing about Bollywood is that you always get the subtitles going off and on during the film. This happens because there is a good amount of English phrases that are scattered in the conversation. You will hear some over protecting father rail his son in Hindi, and then a few seconds later you hear "I'm sorry Pops." Quite the mix, let me tell you.
All in all, it was the best 4 hours I have spent yet in my spring/summer Monday nights. Not only did it get me psyched for cooking some mad Indian cuisine (in the kitchen of the new house I called about, looked at, and got a contract all in the course of the middle of the film) this next few months, but I now know a little better the meaning of the phrase "enduring to the end."
12 April 2008
bad drivers
I debated a long time about whether or not to actually tackle this topic. It's a sensitive one with the locals, and odds are I might be in Utah for a couple more years. So know this blog reader: I put my reputation, good name, and livelihood at stake with this post. You may ask then, why am I taking this issue on? All things considered, it all comes down to the fact that I just don't like coming two feet from death or injury every time I go out on the open highway here in Utah.
Something needs to be said. Something needs to be done.
Let me begin by building up my credibility in the matter. I've seen all sorts of drivers. I learned to drive on the I-5 freeway in southern California. I wasn't behind the wheel for more than a few minutes before my pop ordered me to go northbound (at the peril of both my life and his) and taste freeway smog before my first bout with driving was complete.
Later in life I served my LDS mission in New England. There are two types of drivers there: crazy slow ones, and just plain crazy ones. The great thing about drivers from Massachusetts is that they use their horn almost as much as they use their brakes. I learned the "Boston crawl" and how one can muscle their way into any line of traffic. I learned the true essence of "slow riding" in Maine where the "freeway" (there's tolls all over the place) speed limit is 55 at its best (and I'm bound by solemn oath not to drive the church cars even 1 mile over the limit) with snow and slush aplenty. Then of course there's the dirt roads in Vermont where you discover how 4 foot potholes can form overnight (and how to properly employ NASCAR swerving technique to avoid them).
I've lived in Seattle where I swear has lowest amount freeway space per capita on the planet. Lets just say that it is no coincidence in my mind that Pearl Jam and 'traffic jam' have more than one common denominator.
Nuff said...I've seen lots of different drivers with a large range of driving ability. It all apexes into one point. When I am driving outside Utah, I fear for my fender. When I drive in Utah (particularly Utah Valley), I fear for my life.
As I have now lived in Utah for a cumulative 5 years now, I think I have finally narrowed it down to a few things that makes me the most anxious about Utah-bred vehicle operators: they consistently run red lights, and they don't use their blinkers...ever.
I can't count on less than two feet the number of times I see people run red lights in the city of Provo on any given week. To them, the yellow light doesn't direct you to slow down. Rather, a yellow light gives a Utah driver license to increase their forward speed by 2-3x. More often than not, this increase of speed is still ineffective to get them past the light before it turns red. People, learn this simple mantra my driver's ed teacher from the inner city taught me: when the yellow shows, you just gotta slow.
I learned a new term when I moved up to Utah: t-bone. Never heard of that one in California...just fender bender and 48-car pileup.
Then there's the issue of the blinkers (or lack thereof). I can't even count on one hand the amount of times today that I a car merged right into my lane, right in front of me mind you, and didn't use their blinkers. And I only drove a grand total of about 5.7 miles. Seriously folks, it is ridiculous. Somethings gotta give, or I'm sure one day my prized 97' Geo Prism is going to get sideswiped by some no-brained, no-blinker...er.
It's not that Utah drivers aren't aware of the cars around them, no I think they are plenty aware of the people they choose to cut-off. Its more of a matter of what they aren't aware of: the basic rules of safety. ie. don't cut across two lanes at a time in the middle of rush hour traffic, and know what blind spots are.
Granted, California drivers aren't the easiest to get along with. I admit, we like to go fast, and we have the well founded reputation for not ever completely stopping at stop signs. But hey, at least we are safe. When we merge in 95 mph traffic, we always use our blinkers.
Lastly, I'm not one to just complain and not suggest a remedy. Here is my simple solution: we install in every intersection in Provo one of those cameras that monitors/takes pictures of the cars that run red lights and then instead of giving people tickets, we require them to swim in Utah lake for at least 15 seconds. I'm pretty sure that kind of consequence would scare everyone into a little more road safety.
Something needs to be said. Something needs to be done.
Let me begin by building up my credibility in the matter. I've seen all sorts of drivers. I learned to drive on the I-5 freeway in southern California. I wasn't behind the wheel for more than a few minutes before my pop ordered me to go northbound (at the peril of both my life and his) and taste freeway smog before my first bout with driving was complete.
Later in life I served my LDS mission in New England. There are two types of drivers there: crazy slow ones, and just plain crazy ones. The great thing about drivers from Massachusetts is that they use their horn almost as much as they use their brakes. I learned the "Boston crawl" and how one can muscle their way into any line of traffic. I learned the true essence of "slow riding" in Maine where the "freeway" (there's tolls all over the place) speed limit is 55 at its best (and I'm bound by solemn oath not to drive the church cars even 1 mile over the limit) with snow and slush aplenty. Then of course there's the dirt roads in Vermont where you discover how 4 foot potholes can form overnight (and how to properly employ NASCAR swerving technique to avoid them).
I've lived in Seattle where I swear has lowest amount freeway space per capita on the planet. Lets just say that it is no coincidence in my mind that Pearl Jam and 'traffic jam' have more than one common denominator.
Nuff said...I've seen lots of different drivers with a large range of driving ability. It all apexes into one point. When I am driving outside Utah, I fear for my fender. When I drive in Utah (particularly Utah Valley), I fear for my life.
As I have now lived in Utah for a cumulative 5 years now, I think I have finally narrowed it down to a few things that makes me the most anxious about Utah-bred vehicle operators: they consistently run red lights, and they don't use their blinkers...ever.
I can't count on less than two feet the number of times I see people run red lights in the city of Provo on any given week. To them, the yellow light doesn't direct you to slow down. Rather, a yellow light gives a Utah driver license to increase their forward speed by 2-3x. More often than not, this increase of speed is still ineffective to get them past the light before it turns red. People, learn this simple mantra my driver's ed teacher from the inner city taught me: when the yellow shows, you just gotta slow.
I learned a new term when I moved up to Utah: t-bone. Never heard of that one in California...just fender bender and 48-car pileup.
Then there's the issue of the blinkers (or lack thereof). I can't even count on one hand the amount of times today that I a car merged right into my lane, right in front of me mind you, and didn't use their blinkers. And I only drove a grand total of about 5.7 miles. Seriously folks, it is ridiculous. Somethings gotta give, or I'm sure one day my prized 97' Geo Prism is going to get sideswiped by some no-brained, no-blinker...er.
It's not that Utah drivers aren't aware of the cars around them, no I think they are plenty aware of the people they choose to cut-off. Its more of a matter of what they aren't aware of: the basic rules of safety. ie. don't cut across two lanes at a time in the middle of rush hour traffic, and know what blind spots are.
Granted, California drivers aren't the easiest to get along with. I admit, we like to go fast, and we have the well founded reputation for not ever completely stopping at stop signs. But hey, at least we are safe. When we merge in 95 mph traffic, we always use our blinkers.
Lastly, I'm not one to just complain and not suggest a remedy. Here is my simple solution: we install in every intersection in Provo one of those cameras that monitors/takes pictures of the cars that run red lights and then instead of giving people tickets, we require them to swim in Utah lake for at least 15 seconds. I'm pretty sure that kind of consequence would scare everyone into a little more road safety.
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