Bizarre Bradyisms

20 Years of Lamprechts

It was Memorial Day this past weekend and all of our family that was in the area went camping together to celebrate 20 years of the Lamprecht family living in Colorado.  My parents and my sister left early on Friday morning and found a place in the Pike National Forest that was not already an established “campground,” but merely a spot just off of one of the Forest Service roads.  This was even better because it was free (instead of $14 a night) and you didn’t have campground nieghbors all around you within 50 feet of every direction.  Anyways, I had to work that day, but hitched a ride with my older brother and his wife and kids Saturday morning.  We had planned to get there at around 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning, but it ended up being something like 10:00 or so because we weren’t sure exactly where we were going and the roads were not clearly marked.  But we eventually arrived and spent the day just relaxing and enjoying the day off. 

Nelson’s family stayed most of the day and left at around 8:30 that night after we had just finished making smores. It was fun to have Hayden there as well as their two little girls, Ella and Chloe. Then on Sunday, we all took the day nice and slow. I spent some time and finished reading most of the book Freakonomics which I had purchased almost 5 months ago and never actually got around to reading. It was a good book overall and quite thought provoking, but nothing really earth shattering as I had heard from other who read it as well. We also took an hour long hike up through the mountains and then came back, took a nap, and then cooked dinner. All in all, the trip was nothing out of the ordinary, but a much appreciated break from the rhythm of normal, daily life.

PS – I hope you all like my new blog theme. I figured after a year and a half, it was due for a change.

Flirting

I’ve realized recently that I don’t know how to flirt.  Because of what I do for work, I often visit a number of offices (especially medical practices and design firms) during the course of the day that usually have either nurses, medical assistants, or receptionists that I work with closely to train, teach, and instruct on their company’s technology setup.  It happens time and time again that almost always are they about my same age, are usually quite educated in their field, and are often quite attractive individuals.  Adversely, there are those who you can tell are who are just out of high school because of their level of maturity, are consistently dressed inappropriately, or just so “bubbly” and “fake” that it makes me cringe, but that is a different story for a different time.

The problem that exists is that I usually arrive to solve a problem they are having and when I do fix the issue at hand, they are appreciative (as most people would be) and thank me again and again. Iam never sure if they are flirting or just being friendly because I at the same time have to be overly happy and helpful as part of my job.  Of course I always do a left-hand-ring-finger-check as transparently as possible because that is an easy way to know for sure, but when that fails, what is a person to do?  When is it (if it is ever is?) appropriate to make a move and ask them on a date?  How do you get to know someone well enough beforehand to tell if they are already dating someone else when you only see them for 3 or 4 hours a week?  What happens when they say no and then I have to some back to help them fix something else?  Is that considered really creepy and socially awkward?

As an example, this past week I was in charge of implementing, engineering, and installing a brand new network setup (servers, workstations, laptop, wireless, etc) for an orthopedic clinic at the Littleton Hospital Medical Plaza who just purchased an EMR (electronic medial records) system.  So, I was there on Friday to do the initially delivery and install.  I then had to come back on Monday to do some training, then again on Tuesday to work out a few minor issues with the setup, and again on Thursday to complete some unplanned upgrades.  Each time their MA was there and I had to help her with various odd-ball items and spend some time troubleshooting issues with her connection into Centura Hospital’s network.  During each day as I would wait for something to finish, we would talk about minor topics and I would laugh at some of the crazy patients they all had to deal with.  Then I leave, and wait until the next time I have to come back when the story beings all over again.  Honestly, I didn’t even think about some of the other possible “hints” she might have been trying to give until after I had already left and was at home just going over the day in my head.

Another thing that I’ve been thinking about while writing this is that they are obviously not LDS and I’ve always told myself again and again that I didn’t want to ever get into a relationship with anyone who was not for two reasons.  1 – There is the possibility that I could introduce them to the church and things would progress from there, but I have heard of and personally seen relationships that started this way and appeared to have worked out well until year two of being married when suddenly things come crashing down hard.  2 – If after starting a relationship and becoming “emotionally attached,” I do introduce them to the church and they reject it, I don’t know how well I could handle that.  Call me lame, shallow, a wimp, or something similar all you want, but those are concerns I have always had.

Now, one could think that I have seriously over-analyzed such a situation way too much considering I haven’t come close to even needing to think about it.  This is probably true, but it is something I’ve been pondering a lot recently since whatever attempts I’ve made at dating within my singles ward right now have proven to be a sad exercise in futility.  Yes, I am going back to Utah in the near future, but my past history has shown that to be unfruitful as well.

I suppose I shall be condemned to live the sad life of a socially incompetent introvert for at least the next 5 years until the next stage of my life begins: being 30.

A Marathon

I know what you were thinking. No, no, it wasn’t a running marathon, it was a movie marathon.  Last weekend, in preparation for the upcoming movie release, some people from the singles ward had a sort of “party” where we watched all three Indiana Jones films in a row on a large projection screen in someone’s house.  It was fun and it was also good to get out of the house, although we did take breaks in between each one, by the end of number three, I was done with the whole concept of TV. 

Anyways, last night at around 9:00 a number of us all went and watched the “athletic” guys in our ward play church softball (they won!) after which some of us continued on to watch the new movie as well.  I went in not expecting a whole lot and was actually quite entertained.  Harrison Ford did well for as old as he is and the story line was equal in style and quality to the previous films. 

PS – Did you know that there is actually a “Crystal Skull” in The British Museum that historians still don’t understand how they were made?  Crazy stuff if you ask me.

Recession Precedes a Depression

I was just speaking with my father and he mentioned that the cost of crude oil has just jumped significantly (as if it wasn’t bad enough already) and that the current cost of $134 a barrel could easily reach $150 by the end of the summer and by the end of the year approach $175 a barrel.  That is a inflation cost of almost 50% over a 8 month period. 

Now, I don’t know all of the data nor do I understand how everything in the economy works, but I do know that based off of our country’s history of various events leading up to a period of recession, that this is bad.  Really bad.  I’m paying $3.80 a gallon right now.  Fast forward 8 months and you have $5.25 a gallon.  I have no idea how I can survive with those costs and neither can anyone else, especially when the cost of everything else will jump as well.

I have heard that people are too nervous to mention the possibility of a true recession, but I’m almost convinced that we are in fact leading to a period of depression.  And I’m scared.  And that is saying a lot because I usually don’t get scared about things like this. 

And to top it all off, all of our presidential candidates are idiots who are just there to pay the political game of chess.  Buckle up and strap yourselves in for a long, nasty ride.  This one is going to be a doozy.

And It Came To Pass

And it came I pass that I, Brady, did endeavor to keep a record of my life and the manner after which I lived.  Behold, two weeks had passed away since I had previously made an addition to these records of which I have spoken.  And now, I, Brady, do speak after the manner of mine own conscience.

I’ve always wanted to try and write an entire letter or other written piece of work in the same style that is found in the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon.  What better way to attempt such a feat than to do so in blog entry.  So I tried and found that it is a lot harder than you would initially think.  The three sentences found above will have to do.

I was able to finally attend the gun safety training class that I signed up for close to two months ago.  Our neighbor who lives next to my parents is the instructor at a local shooting range and with the craziness that is going on right now with the future of the 2nd amendment, I thought it would be in my best interest to apply for a concealed weapons license before it is no longer an option.  So, I went and withstood the entire nine hour class listening to him speak about gun laws, gun safety, how a gun works, etc, and while it could have been completed in half the time it took, it was overall a positive experience.  In the end, we had to fire a 9mm semi-automatic and a 9mm revolver from 7 yards away.  To qualify, we only had to get 50% of the rounds somewhere on the target and although I can’t say I was great at it, based off of my shooting target in the picture here, if I ever had to use a gun on an actual person, it probably wouldn’t be fatal, but their left kidney would be in serious trouble.  I honestly hope I never have to find that out.   But now, all I have to do is have a short “interview” with the local sheriff’s office and pay something like another $150 to get my concealed weapons license.  However, I am going to have to double check and make sure Utah accepts Colorado’s license so I don’t end up wasting my money if they in do in fact require a separate application.

Realizing that when I move back to Utah at the end of this summer, the type of apartment that I will most likely end up renting will not be furnished, I decided that I will be to start acquiring second-hand furniture from wherever I can.  I was poking around Craigslist one day while attempting to waste time at work and found a used LoveSac for close 25% of what a new one retails at.  It was in great shape, very minimal use, and it was calling my name (not really).  I drove over to take a look and ended up buying it.  I borrowed my parent’s SUV to stuff it in the back and had to fold down the seats because it was even too large to fit otherwise.  For now, it is just sitting in the basement until I move out, but I’m going to have to figure out how to wash the outside cover before it gets much use.  You just never know what used furniture has gone through. 

So, in the evenings and on the weekends when we can, me and my parents continue to work on the retaining wall for our backyard.  It has been long and ongoing project that is still not finished, but we are getting closer.  Yesterday, we spent about 5 hours outside each working on our own part of it.  We put in landscape material as well as the gravel for the water drainage.  The last row of stones was completed I glued the top ones down with some crazy strong brick adhesive because we decided to go up to six rows high when the manufacturer only recommended a maximum of four.  I went outside this afternoon to check how well the adhesive had cured and I wasn’t able to move them at all.  Now all that is left is to continue filling in the dirt, leveling it off, and then decided what type of material to place on the surface. 

  

Finally, I noticed a few weeks ago that all of the Denver metro area is now available on Google Maps Street View.  Based off of the direction the shadows are falling, what cards are home, and the color of the tress, I could probably tell you within a 2-3 week time period when the photos must have been taken.  While I am thinking about it, I almost forgot to mention Gwen’s (my car) 2nd birthday at the beginning on this month. I’d link to it to show you the full interaction that Google Maps gives you, but that is just too much of a privacy breach for me.  So you’ll have to do with a static picture instead. It is kind cool and kind of creepy at the same time. My only question I have is, “What’s next?”