As the White Sox play out the rest of the string, and the Diamondbacks lock up the NL West, I feel it's appropriate to discuss my past doings with all of you.
For reasons I'm still not 100% sure of, work got extremely busy from August 18th, until about Tuesday (Sep 6). Like, 3 to 4 fold more busy than the average day. Most people would get upset if their work days suddenly felt like three crammed into one, however, since my job is mostly commission based, I was more pleased than an Arkansan in a "Everything Made of Buffalo Bone" shop. (Let's not kid ourselves. Who wouldn't be ecstatic in that shop?) The downside is that it didn't leave a lot of time to slap something up here. For that, I make no apologies. I had to choose to between making money, and informing the two people (Ok, mostly just my sister, a couple times a day) that read this about my activities. When typing this out leads to cashing checks, maybe I'll shift my focus. Do not hold your breath, as I know I don't have the time to commit to such an endeavor, and I question whether I have the literary chops to develop something that interesting. How many sites do you visit on a daily basis? How many of them are so you can read something? I have about 5. Couple blogs, ESPN, MSN and Grantland. I'm sure there is someway I could have a notification inform me of a new post, instead of having to check on the daily, but I like checking things, and they are kind enough to link blogs to other friends so that I don't have to type in all of the other addresses. For that, I say thank you.
The other things that have kept me busy are some road trips. The weekend before labor day, I went down to St. George with a couple buddies and the girlfriend. We had a blast, played some golf and hiked the Narrows in Zion's. I should note that the girlfriend was the only girl there. Yes, she did come golfing with us. She became very good at driving the cart, as well as smiling and telling me that "Oh, it looked like a really good hit" when I would knock the ball into the trees/water/highway. She's kind like that. She's also forgiving because on the golf course, well, you tend to relax a little bit. Which can get awkward, given that when you relax on a golf course it is usually with a bunch of guys. I feel/hope this is universal, but same gender comments and conversation are different than mixed gender ones. In those potentially awkward moment, she would either feign having not heard it, or she would just smile and shake her head a little. We'd all laugh, except for whomever made the comment that time, and then keep on playing.
(This is the one photo taken during this entire weekend, just before we started the hike in Zion's. I'll let you figure out who is the girlfriend.)
The hike was terrific. It isn't a steep hike, but it is long, and you spend the entire time in a knee-deep stream. It took me a little while figuring out how to secure my footing on the submerged, rocky terrain, but after that you just keep going. The cool water keeps you from feeling too hot at any given point, so you never feel like it's a chore. However, once it's over and you're sitting on the tram back to the parking lot, you realize just how much work you put in. Either way, I highly recommend it, and if you have the time, stop by the Bistro (that's its name) in Hurricane on the way out. Delicious food there. They seemed to be seasonal, so they probably shut it down in the winter, which is when the national parks in that area shut down as well.
So I came home from that great weekend, put in my week of work, kaplan, and softball, and then this past Labor Day weekend, I went up to Idaho Falls. I've made two trips to Idaho, and one trip through it. This was the first time that I was not having to wear multiple layers or question whether I should put tiger balm on my toes to remind me they still exist. It was a little brisk, but nothing a pair of jeans and hoodie couldn't fix.
The girlfriend needed to go up there because her dad had just accepted a position in New York, and would be moving there for the next 5+years. By the time this posts, he'll already be there. She asked if I wanted to go. Another chance to take a pseudo vacation outside of Utah County? Yep. I'm going to do that.
We left Friday right after I got out of work. I didn't stop to eat before leaving, so by 8pm, I was hungry something fierce. Thankfully, we were entering the bustling metropolis that is... Malad. I'm pretty sure that Malad is in Idaho, but it might still be Utah. It was near the border, and the girlfriend let me know that it was the last quasi-town until Pocatello, another hour or so down the road. Pulled into some diner and had the biggest fried pork sandwich I've ever seen. It was too big for me to pick up, and I vastly preferred my food picked up as opposed to forked and knifed. (And yes, it is knifed, not knived. I had to look it up because it looked weird.) On the upside, it was really good with some gravy and mashed potatoes.
Got into Idaho Falls, stepped outside, and was really glad I had a hoodie in the car. The days never got cold, but the mornings and evenings were a different story. We made it to the girlfriend's mom's house around 10 pm, and ran outside to lay on their trampoline and look at all the stars. (bee-tee-dub, there are a bajillion stars up there that you forget about until you find yourself in some remote place and are able to pause and just look up. It is truly amazing.) She brought a blanket, but that wasn't good enough. I was literally shaking for a couple minutes as natural survival instincts kicked in and my body realized it needed to generate more heat to keep core temperatures within reasonable ranges. The next night we went to a drive in movie. Yes they still exist. Rumor is that there are only about 20 or drive ins still operating in the United States. Idaho Falls has two of them. The point of the matter is that this time, we brought three blankets. One was a denim blanket made from swatches cut out of jeans. I did not know this was common practice. It is. This thing was fantastically warm. We had a lovesac in the back of her sister's truck and with three blankets, we stayed warm while being visually assaulted by "Smurfs" followed by "Zookeeper". For the sake of all things good and holy, avoid both of these. Run, do not walk away from them. Slap anyone over the age of 8 who suggests either of them. If you see a fire, try and put it out by tossing every copy of them onto it. Either the pile with smother the flames, or the flames will consume the pile. Win-win.
The rest of the trip was highlighted by her grandfather's 92nd birthday, as well as a number of visits to/with her relatives. We spent most of the time with her sister and brother-in-law. Aside from letting us borrow said truck/lovesac/blankets, they invited us over a number of times to play with their kids and talk after the young'ns had retired. Great folks there. Couldn't thank them enough for their kindness and sincerity.
Oh, and we watched the BYU game with her dad and his wife. Tough game to watch, but thankfully the Cougs pulled off the victory. Should be an interesting matchup against Texas this weekend.
Came home Monday afternoon so I could have some time to prep for the Kaplan class I had Tuesday night. It was a great trip, and got to see a little more of the girlfriend's family. Great people up there.
Word.
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