A summer like any other

Some pictures of things I've done this summer. As you can see, I haven't done too much, just a normal boring summer with a few fun things.

Visit to Idaho and Utah

Dad's favorite thing at a pool. At the Riverdale Resort near Preston, ID

Our picnic lunch on the tailgate on July 4th along with a drive through some canyons and to Park City

Mom's first time driving a 4-wheeler at her best friend Arlene's house.

Mom and Arlene

Doug and I currying the horses.

Aunt Lori, Aunt Luan, and Mom in the hot spring pools at the resort.

Dad being a little boy again.

This slide me and Dad went down like 20 times.

It was warm and fun!

Preston Cemetary. Mom took this picture and I really like it with the misty trees in the background.

Me on the 4-wheeler

Makin some rope at the "This is the place" Heritage Park

Dad must be whistling, haha...trying to make the job look easy.

The view of the Salt Lake Valley from the park.

Behind our hotel room in Preston

Me and Mom playing marbles on the bed.

A funny ad I saw in the 1918 Preston Citizen newspaper.

The article which tells of the incident where Grandpa Gene's leg got burned.

We should show this to the AZ Legislators. Take up some old values, they still apply to today as they did in 1918.

Mom looking through the newspapers.

Main street in Preston

A nice shot of a flag a few days before Independence Day in a park in Preston.

This is a sign in front of the Oneida Stake Academy and when they moved the entire building.

Oneida Stake Academy

Pulling up to the Riverdale Resort...you can see the slide and the many stairs we had to climb to get to the top inside the building.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

The mountains facing the temple.

All of us in front of the temple after the open house.

Telescope and Gin Blossoms Concert
June 2009

Lead singer of Gin Blossoms, band originated in Tempe AZ

Pine Mountain Amphitheater where the concert was. We didn't have good seats. But we went up to the standing area next to the stage later.

A cool picture. My friend was taking a picture when he dropped the camera and this is how it turned out.

The gang at the concert. My old roommate Kelsey is next to me in the yellow shirt.

Fishin and Campin (Fully edited)

A date with a new found friend.
These are actually pictures of a little date I went on. I noticed this guy at church that looked like a Kartchner and went up to him and inquired if he was. Then we decided to become friends. He works on a ranch as a cowboy nearby Meteor Crater. So one night we hung out and I showed him a few places around Flagstaff.

This is up above Lake Mary at Lake Marshall. You can see the San Francisco Peaks as depicted in the picture below as well as Sunset Crater from up here.


Here's Jon talking to a mutual friend of ours. He was actually trying to get hold of her so that he could find out if I was alright to be around, make sure I'm not crazy or anything. And lo and behold, she called when we were together. I left them alone to chat for a bit.


Campin and Fishin with a friend of mine.

Here is Dave driving on our way to Chevelon Canyon Lake, about 50 miles from Winslow, AZ.

And Dave's brother, Jacob in front of us in his truck with his wife and her brother. I went on a few dates with Jacob when I first moved up to Flagstaff, before he met his wife.

The turning point to go on a very long dirt road!


So, the final mile down to the lake was a very steep rocky hill! And when I say steep, it was between a 45-60 degree incline. It was even hard to walk back up it after fishing. So we're heading down this road and Dave thinks this whole time he can get back up it cause he has 4-wheel drive. Let's just say it was very difficult to get back to the top. His brother Jacob did better in his two-wheel drive truck and its twice the size of Dave's. Me and Jacob's wife, Natalie sat in the back to give more weight on the back tires while her brother and Jacob pushed. They also had to build some trails and ramps to go on with rocks cause some of the rocks had a drop off of 6-8 inches.


Here's Dave holding the squirmy fish I caught. Yeh, no pictures of me holding it cause I didn't even touch it.


When I caught it I called to Dave and said I caught a fish, come get it! And I let it swim around in the water hooked for about 2-3 minutes before he reeled it in.


Lettin the poor fishy go. This rock is where I was fishing, about 20 feet to the water. Doesn't help to keep the lure in the water as long as I want so little fishies can catch hold.


It was belly up like this for what seemed like 5 minutes. I really thought he was dead. Then Dave told me he went down to the bottom, they usually play dead for a little bit, I guess fish are pretty smart. I have a video which isn't too exciting, just watching the fish that I think is dead with my commentary. Its funny to me but probably only to me.


Scenic pictures of Chevelon Canyon Lake.


A bunch of logs in the corner of the lake. We hiked around the shore over there to get to the spot we wanted to fish on.


Jacob fishing


So Dave caught 3 fish and they were all the size of his pinky or smaller. This one he ripped the poor eye out of the thing.

There's him with his little fish and the eye, he said it was really sticky and couldn't get it off his hand. I also got video of this fish swimming around in circles with his non-eye side up. We just torture fish. :( Don't mean to!


It was an adventure to go camping and fishing...and to actually catch a fish. Maybe one day I won't be afraid to touch a fish. But it doesn't help that Dave told me the fish I caught had teeth. I didn't think fish had teeth! I definitely don't like things biting me. This was just a quick trip too, we left Wednesday morning after I worked 2 hours till 9:30 and then came back the next day and got back around 10:30 and I went to work at 12:30. Worked perfectly. The place we went though did take 2 hours to get to.

More than a month ago I was downtown volunteering for a local organization and it was also the First Friday Art Walk. Lots of things happen downtown during the artwalk and this was in a store, they had break dancing. Just a little free entertainment.

A # of []s (A number of posts)

So I've gotten a little behind. I've wanted to post things that I've been doing and what has peaked my interest but time slipped through like sand in fingers. So there's a few posts below. Its getting later and later so I'll post a few more blurbs about my life in the next few days. And I've put 3 videos that are pretty neat. All are taken with my camera so not good quality but you get the gist of the performance. Unfortunately, videos take forever to load so they probably won't be on here till after I wake up. Read all or as little as you want. I don't really care, I just have particular things I want to record. Thanks for tuning in.

Arcosanti

Arcosanti. It's a neat little place and its right off I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff. I had heard about it in my Humanistic Values in a Technological Society class in the fall semester and have always wanted to stop by and check it out. On my way home in May, I decided I finally would. Things had closed and all the tours had been closed to guiding but I did get a quick synopsis of info from the employee in the visitor's center. Well, without further ado, I hope I have sparked your interest. I'm going to copy the next few blurbs straight from their website.
Click here to see the website.


In 1970, the Cosanti Foundation began building Arcosanti, an experimental town in the high desert of Arizona, 70 miles north of metropolitan Phoenix. When complete, Arcosanti will house 5000 people, demonstrating ways to improve urban conditions and lessen our destructive impact on the earth. Its large, compact structures and large-scale solar greenhouses will occupy only 25 acres of a 4060 acre land preserve, keeping the natural countryside in close proximity to urban dwellers.

Arcosanti is designed according to the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), developed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. In an arcology, the built and the living interact as organs would in a highly evolved being. This means many systems work together, with efficient circulation of people and resources, multi-use buildings, and solar orientation for lighting, heating and cooling.

In this complex, creative environment, apartments, businesses, production, technology, open space, studios, and educational and cultural events are all accessible, while privacy is paramount in the overall design. Greenhouses provide gardening space for public and private use, and act as solar collectors for winter heat.

The concept of a one-structure system is not incidental to the organization of the city, but central to it. Such an urban structure hosts life, work, education, culture, leisure, and health in a dense, compact system which also puts the untouched open countryside at the fingertips of the residents. The compactness of an Arcology gives 90 percent more land to farming and conservation than today's urban and suburban sprawl. This compactness makes an Arcology a more workable system.

The automobile divides a city by scattering it across the landscape. Greater attention is given to human scale in an Arcology. In it the pedestrian reigns. Distances are measured by walks and minutes. Within it the automobile is nonsensical.

In an Arcology energy is used more efficiently than in a conventional modern city. Pollution is a direct function of wastefulness, not efficiency. The increase in efficiency and reduction of wastefulness means a reduction of pollution.

The first picture is of the world-famous Soleri Bells produced right at Arcosanti. And below it is a little bird that did not fly away when I walked passed it. It just hopped along like it wasn't scared one bit.

I only went to the building in the 2nd pic because there wasn't anything else open.

The welcoming sign before you go about 2 miles on a dirt road to Arcosanti.

This reminded me of the scene in Cars when Lightning McQueen or his girly-friend, Porsha?, say, "Look at them, they have no idea what they're missing. They just pass right on by" when they were looking at the Freeway that bypassed Radiator Springs. So that's the freeway in the distance, about 3 miles away and they're zooming right past a unique and educational place.

Leaving...and looking back. It's beautiful desert landscape.
One last note: You can even stay at Arcosanti for a night or two and get a hands on experience. It is really cheap actually, between $40-60 and I think that includes meals.

And then I went home and after a week passed, we celebrated Dad's 56th birthday at 86 Cafe. He got a free Apple Cobbler with ice cream. And Linda put a little candle on top. Haha. The quality isn't that great cause I just whipped out my camera in time to catch the candle before he blew it out. And the flash wasn't on automatic either. Emma and Abbey were also with us. I brought them home with me so they could stay at G-as (G-pa's and G-ma's) place overnight.
Ha, that was an adventure getting home. That Friday I was there, I got lost twice...trying to go to my bank and trying to get home. And Emma and Abbey were with me both times. They probably think Aunt Margo never has a clue where she is.

A little date with myself

Since I don't get much dating in around here...I went on one with myself. A little me on one time if you want to say. Before I had my last final, and after getting out of an early morning one, 7:30 AM, I went to a few places where I hadn't been before.


It started out with a few errands, getting some stamps 3 c and 1 c since stamps decided to go up once again. And I went to Sam's Club as well to get Dad's infamous Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice that he desperately needs. Its a little funny to think of myself pushing around 6 gallons of grapefruit juice. And the cashier even said, Someone likes grapefruit juice. Then I had to explain why I was getting it and why so many!



I got a breakfast burrito from the Dog Haus. It's by Fry's and Albertson's for those who used to live in Flagstaff. I've heard they were good and they've been voted the best breakfast burrito in Flagstaff last year I think.

Then I took my breakfast burrito and ate it at a park bench by the train station right on Route 66.

A good view of the peaks from here.

A logging wheel in the park to represent the city's founding and history.
A little park bench. I didn't get pictures of it but the trees with the beautiful pink flowers was in full bloom next to where I was sitting.

And this dirty little girl tricked me. This is my friend Jessica...I'll also be living with her this school year. So here she is, all dirty from laying on the ground under Sean's car, watching him change his oil. Before this happened, I was at her house picking up laundry and studying for my macroeconomics final. I had studied pretty well and needed a little break. She comes down the stairs and asks if I want to take the pillow she had in her hand back to Sean real quick. It was his and I was up for a little diversion. So we get on the road, probably 3-4 miles from her house and I ask, "where's his pillow?" She had forgotten it but said "it's ok, we'll still go say hi." We get to his house...and its about 12:30 at night...and we go inside. Then we go to the garage. She had dragged me to his house, not to just give him his pillow (which she forgot anyway), but to watch him change his oil cause she had never seen it done before. If I wasn't such an easygoing person and hadn't studied for my final, I would have been pretty mad. She had even suggested before we left that I drive separately so that I can leave when I want to. But we were just making a quick trip to give him his pillow. Oh my was I wrong. Besides being tricked to go to his place at 12:30 AM, I had two finals the next day, one being from 7:30-9:30 AM, then working from 10-2 and having my economics final from 3-5 PM. So it was going to be a long day at the end of a long week. Oh but we didn't just watch him change his oil and then go home. He has a Range Rover that he baby's. I think it took him like 45 mins from start to finish. And Jessica got down underneath to watch and she got some oil splattered on her face. HAHA! That's the reason why I took the picture. You can see it on her cheek a little. I had a better picture where you could see it all but she deleted it off my camera. Then we had to drive it to get all the new oil flowing, take the old oil and drop it by Auto Zone...was not my idea. But they'll find it in the morning! Right outside their door. :D Here's where I roll my eyes. Then somehow they decided in a discrete way to show me this pond! At 3 AM!!! Well I had no choice but to go along, it was by a golf course and some houses. It was pretty dark and I don't like being in the dark where animals and mean men can attack me. I think it took us an hour to walk around the whole thing. She wiz, crazy stuff. They always keep me up! Its a good things I've been away from them for a while. So I got home around 4:30 and got about 3 hours of sleep. I think I did well on my economics final though cause I got an A in the class. Apologies for the length of this story, I wanted to record it somewhere cause it just flabberghasts me how crazy I allow my life to be at times. This was also the night before my little date with myself.

A siamese twin banana. I had to buy it just because I never have seen anything like it. And I took it to work to show my boss and coworkers, and showed all my roommates and friends.

Its backside. Just to prove that it is really connected under one skin/peel. This was also the week of finals. See, it all ties in together.

P.S. Now that its been a month since school got out...I got 3 A's and 1 B this semester. I received A's in my Chicano Studies, Business Statistics, and Macroeconomics classes. Sadly I got a B in my Managerial Accounting class. Should I change my major to Economics perhaps since that's exactly the grades I got last semester? So that was a 3.75 semester GPA. Chalk one up on the Dean's List once again! Wahoo. And that brought up my cumulative GPA to 3.45!