Bizarre Bradyisms

Vegas and beyond

Today was interesting. Instead of waking up and going somewhere really early in the morning, Colin and I both just took our time getting moving and finally ended up outside in pool soaking up some sun. Although we were both only there for just over an hour, we both ended up getting quite burnt. Afterwards, we changed and headed out on the roads in search of Hoover Dam. We both were not sure of where it was located, but with a little bit of intuition we finally made it. It was really amazing. The size of the dam was quite overwhelming and even though I am not usually intimidated by heights, peering over the edge did make me a little bit nautious. The tour that we took down inside of the dam allowed us to see all of the generators and turbines and the such. For the time period in which it was built, the engineering and planning that took place really do astound.

After a few hours of that, we headed back and had a hard time picking a place to eat dinner before the Blue Man show we were going to see. Traffic in Las Vegas is horrible. I think by the time we actually got to our hotel we had spent 3 hours in the car getting back from Hoover Dam, eating a quick dinner, and going back to the hotel. I vowed to never drive again in that city. Because of this delay of ours, we eventually had to run down the strip to make it to the Vennettian Hotel where the Blue Man theatre is located. Colin and I both laughed because it ended up becoming a competition or type of sport running through all the crowds and weaving between them all. At precisely 7:30 we sat down in our seats just a little hot and slighty sweaty. But talk about timing! Even though our seats were not the greatest, the show was really fun and exciting. I was, however, suprised to see almost all of the same material performed that I saw in their show over 5 years ago. Oh well. Nevertheless, we both got the opportunity to get a picture with a real Blue Man afterwards (they may look like just posters, but I promise they were actual people).

 

Las Vegas here we come

Colin and I arrived in Las Vegas last night at around 1:30 Nevada time. It was actually 2:30, but we had not realized beforehand that it was a different time zone there. By the time we made it to our hotel it was 2:30 (the traffic on the actual strip is crazy slow). We checked in and then decided to walk outside and see what we could of the city. It was Sunday, so we did not really purchase anything nor attempt any sort of entertainment. At around 8:30 we had walked the entire 6.3 miles of the strip and were both quite hungry. Subway was right there and even though they were ~$10.00 sandwiches, hunger overcame us. One thing we did realize is that it was going to be a little difficult to try and entertain ourselves for 3 days in Las Vegas with wholesome activities besides gambling and unappropriate adult material that is adversited everywhere you look. I mentioned before how different it was to see the way people dressed and held themselves outside of Provo. If I thought it was bad in Colorado, Las Vegas had to be 10x worse. I suppose I will have to deal with it when I finish school, but nonetheless, different.

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Today, unsure of how to spend our time, we ended up purchasing a day pass on the Manhattan Express Rollercoaster in the New York, NY hotel. $25 seemed a bit high to us at first, but by the end of the day the number of times we rode it (maybe around 7) and how quickly we were able to cut in front of the line made it well worth it. The rules of the ride said we could not have any lose items on us, but after getting the guts on about the 3rd time through I snuck my camera in on the front car and was able to take a full length shot of the whole ride. Thinking I was pretty smooth I tried to shoot some still shots of Colin and I during the ride, but besides by best efforts of hiding my camera, after we left out of the station and before we headed up the chain-driven hill the ride stopped. I was afraid that somehow they saw the camera and put it away. What appeared to be ~2 minutes later just sitting there, two of the ride controllers were there asking for my camera. I gave in and felt really embarassed, not because of the employees, but because I was the one who held up the ride (and I am always the one complaining about idiot people who cause delays for others). Anyways, after that turn on the ride, we decided not to come back until much later in the day when perhaps new employees would be there. Something to remember I guess.

The rest of the day was spent on the strip stopping for live bands and getting snacks here and there, other small purchases, watching the fountains at the Bellagio, and other relaxing stuff. We did make it make to the rollercoaster and were grateful to find different people there except for one girl who either didn’t seem to remeber or didn’t care.

Home again

This past weekend I drove home to Colorado with my Grandmother to see my younger brother Colin graduate from High School and then to take pick him up and head over the Las Vegas with me as a sort of graduation gift. I was really exciting to see my family again because I have not had the opportunity to spend much time with them during the past year. It was fun to be there and I love them all a lot, but by the end of the week I was ready to go back. Not because of the people, but I just get bored not having anything to do really and I don’t have any friends with whom to spend time. I did get to see someone I was kind of friends with before my mission who recently returned home from his. We were not ever that really close before, but he is haing a hard time with family situations and job difficulties I felt it would be nice to help get his mind off of things. We saw The DaVinci Code movie together. I liked it, but it was kind of boring and not near as exciting as the book was. Anyways, see the friend was well worth it.

Today we actually attended Colin’s graduation and the day was just beautiful. I am really proud of him and excited to spend the next couple of days with him. From what I hear is ready to be out of school just like I was when I finished high school and was at the end of this past semester at BYU. He and I look really similar and act in the same way (kind of) and both laugh at the same odd jokes. Can you imagine that? Brothers that are similar.

Such is life

During the past 3 days I have received probably a total of 7 hours of sleep and I am realizing that while I think I can force myself to get by on such a little amount of rest, there is point where your body just forces itself to sleep. My new work schedule consists of three 12-hour days in row followed by four days of complete leisure and while the four days “off” are nice, trying to have a meager social life on weekends after having put in so many consecutive hours becomes quite difficult. Such is life.

I received a lot of new toys that I ordered for myself this week and I think the FedEx man has become acquainted with me personally even though I have only lived at my new address for just over two weeks. (Do you think that a package on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday is a bit excessive?) My piano keyboard showed up on Wednesday morning and so I called up a friend named Laura from my previous apartment complex to ask if she could stop by and show me how to practice effectively. She ended up coming over on Thursday after work and we spent maybe a little more than an hour going over a few things I could do to practice. (I am really excited about being able to dedicate some time and learn that piano this summer.) Then as form of payment for her time and just to have a nice evening out I offered to take her out to dinner. Laura had heard good things of a restaurant named Mimi’s cafe so we decided to try it out. It was a nice place, pretty low-key, and our waitress was quite friendly. Overall, the evening was great and I think we must have been there for an hour and a half. Now, I must say that the food was good and I enjoyed it, however, for the price, I think we could have done a lot better. Such is life.

Last night after work I went out with a couple of old roommates to what could be called a Mormon version of a bachelor’s party. Brant is getting married in the end of May over in Washington, D.C. and I think it must have been his Fianceé’s bridal shower so us guys got together and went bowling. It was really fun and it was good to just let loose and relax. Some of the guys are quite competitive so watching their little dances after doing well or doing poorly on a frame was quite amuzing. Now, I have never been really good at bowling, (then again, I have not really bowled all that must either) but I think I actually broke 100 for the first time ever with my high score of 128. Pretty exciting stuff. After that, we got some pizzas and eventually ended up watching a movie called “Nanny McPhee” on a big projection screen outside on the lawn in front of the old apartment. I think I must have made it thirty minutes before I finally dozed off only to wake up at the end and realize that 11:20 is really late when I have to get up again in 4 hours to do another 12 hour shift at work.

Anyways, Such is life.

So this is what summer is all about

Even though school finished over a week ago, I had not yet had the change to just relax and really think about nothing until today. I got up early, latched by bike onto the car, and drove up to where Provo Canyon starts to take a nice ride along the river. It was amazing. I did not have any comitments or homework or other things to think about so I was able to take my time and enjoy the view. There was close to nobody on the trail all day long and I stopped to hike up to Bridal Veil Falls for a small break.

 

Even though I was expecting to get quite tired during the ride, after I made it all the way up to the end of the trail, I still had tons of energy. So, I decided to just keep riding up some street and then on some other street until there was really no where left to go and had to turn around. I think I will try and plan ahead for next time so I can find a trail where there is at least some difficulty to it. Anyways, it was great, and I am really, really, going to enjoy an easy summer.