Bizarre Bradyisms

Brady’s Projection Screen v2.0

Some of you may recall that sometime last summer, my former roommate, Kyle, and I built a projection screen to be used when we wanted to watch films outside on our back patio. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing and while some planning went into the construction of that initial version, I recognized a couple of design flaws that I wanted to change. Based off of that original plan, I decided about two months ago to spend some time planning out a better design of a projection screen to be used while here in Colorado and once I make it back to Utah again.

Here are a couple of things I wanted to address:

1. 16:9 aspect ratio for wide screen movies
2. Easy assemble and take down
3. Be able to have the frame support itself
4. Lightweight and portable

So, with all of these ideas in hand, little by little, I designed and built “Brady’s Projection Screen v2.0.” Although there were a couple hiccups during the construction process (see pictures below), it turned out great. I even used it as an FHE activity this past week as a guinea pig to see how well it worked. We went the the local park and set it up under an amphitheatre they have there. It didn’t get dark until around 9:00 at night so a number of the ward members left before or right after the film (Ratatouille) started, but there were around 20 other people from the park who randomly stopped by and watched it with us.

Learning from the trial run at the park for FHE, I have once again noticed a few things I want to improve upon to make the screen even better (i.e. more stable), but I’m still deciding on how I want to implement those for v2.1.   So on this past Friday night, I setup the screen in my backyard, borrowed the projector from work, moved my audio equipment on to the back porch and watched Top Gun all by myself.  It was fantastic.

  

Bored and a Clean House

It is weird how some weeks there are numerous different things going on in my life that I feel like writing about and then others weeks where the exact opposite is true.  This last week was one of the later.  It is almost Monday again and almost nothing (besides one incident which I have already written about but will keep that post private for now) of significance happened to me.  In short, it went like this: go to work, come home (repeat five times).  I actually got so bored that on Saturday I spent the entire day from 10am until 6pm cleaning the house while my parents were out of town in Fort Collins.  It is just like when I was in school and had a paper due; by the time I actually finished and turned the assignment in, my apartment was as clean as ever.

Anywho (is that really a word?), I finally got around to researching whether or not Utah would accept Colorado’s Concealed Weapon License.  Lucky for me, they are reciprocal licenses so one is valid in the other and vice-versa.  With this information in hand, I took the $152.50 to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and had them take my fingerprints (again) and begin the 90 day processing period before they will actually give me the piece of paper.  The person processing my application said I had really nice fingerprints and that those are extremely hard to come by (reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with George’s modeling hands).  I guess that means I should probably not ever get into trouble (not that I had planned to) because if I do, I’ll probably be easy to convict based off of the evidence. 

I’ve been searching high and low for apartments and condos to live in around Provo but my searching has resulted in zilch.  Because where and what type of environment I live in is so important to me, I can’t bear to live in a tiny, crap apartment that hasn’t been taken care of in years while at the same time I don’t want to be spending $1200 a month for a condo by myself so I don’t have to deal with a random roommate that I won’t get along with.  I know I am sounding a little picky, and honestly, I probably am, but like I said, when I come home at the end of the day, I want to feel comfortable and not have to deal with another set of problems (dirty dishes, unclean house, etc) after walking in the front door.  As I previously stated, it looks like I will be able to keep my current job and just work remotely so I really will need to have a bedroom and a separate office.  Plus, I have a lot of equipment that will need its own place as well that is just too loud to keep in any room that people will spend time in (the ideal place would be a garage or basement).

In short, I think I basically need (read: want) a house.  I’ve seen a lot of ads for pre-foreclosure listings which basically means that the current owner can’t make their payments and are willing to walk away leaving the deed in your hands as well as all of the equity they have already accrued.  Now this sounds way too good to be true and some days I’ve actually contemplated pursuing such an option, but then I realize that would mean I would have to stay in Utah beyond the time required for me to finish a degree.  I mean no disrespect to those who live there now by choice, but unless some higher power wanted it that way, I don’t think I could stand raising a family in Utah.  So, if anyone knows of a decent but not extravagant apartment / condo for rent in the Provo / Orem / Pleasant Grove area, please let me know. 

What is a Segway?

You may have noticed on my blog here that I’ve added a sidebar widget containing a list of things I want make sure I do this summer. Kind of like a “bucket-list,” but not really, since I don’t expect to “kick the bucket” anything time soon. Anyways, I’ve been able to cross a number of the things off already as I make my way down (such as shooting a hand gun and a concert at Red Rocks). This week, I asked a girl out on a date for Saturday afternoon to go on a guided tour of Downtown Denver on a Segway. I have to admit that it was a little expensive, especially for a first date.  I had tried hard to not let her find out the cost but unfortunately she overheard when our guide, Larry, was talking to someone else.  I think it made her a little nervous, but after we got started, she seemed to forget about it and everything went well.  Overall: I loved every minute of it!  It took a little getting used to the concept of how to contol it, but then, it was just a blast.  Since we both had lived in Colorado and had seen most of the “tourist sites,” Larry took us along the path by the Platte River, around Invesco Field and though the part of the city known as LoDo.  The wind was breezy and the weather was just cool enough to make it almost perfect (I think she did get a little cold). Then after we were done with the 2.5 hour tour we went and had dinner at Sam’s No. 3 next to the Denver Center for Performing Arts (sorry for the tons of wikipedia links, but I have some readers who are not familiar with the Colorado way of life).  I just realized that all of the dates I go on tend to be really long.  I seem plan a lot of things to do, but at the same time, I do provide ample opportunity for the girl to get out early if things aren’t going well or has other commitments.  For example, this was turned out around 7 hours long, but from what I can tell it went quite well. 

In other news, I finally talked to my boss at work and told him that I would be moving back to Utah at the end of the summer. I asked if he would be open to the idea of me working from home there and even expanding his business into that market. He said that he would definitely be open to it and just asked that I keep him informed and up to date as to what my plans are. So, if things work out, I won’t have to go searching for a new job when I arrive in Utah (although I have been submitting resumes) and I can keep making Colorado wages (instead of Utah wages where there are thousands of students willing to work for close to nothing keeping the supply and demand equation drastically benefiting the employers).

Surprise

So I received my economic stimulus check from the government this week.  I had almost forgotten that I was due to get it and so it was a nice surprise to find it  in the mail.  At first my reaction was like, “Great!  Free money.”  Then I realized that I had already paid them more than double that in taxes last year.  Not to sound negative about an additional $600 I didn’t have the day before, but I find it odd that somehow by taking my money and holding on to it for 2 months and then returning part of it can make a person happy.  I’ll take what I get.

Communal Car Wash

In my ward calling as the FHE co-chair, I had been trying for many weeks to find and plan activities that people would enjoy.  However, trying to do this week after week on your own can get really old and you quickly run out of ideas.  Plus, as I’ve mentioned before, I am really different from almost everyone in the singles ward and while I thought some of the activities I came up with would turn out well, trying to get people to participate in new or unfamiliar ideas was like pulling teeth. 

Now, I’ve received a new co-chair and some other members of my committee who are actually willing to help.  So, this week for FHE we had a communal car wash.  Everyone came and brought their own car and we all helped wash and dry them by hand in the chapel’s parking lot.  The idea was obviously to wash the cars but to also give people an excuse to get wet.  I was hoping others would “start the fight” but after a good 15 minutes of not anything serious happening, I had to initiate it by bringing out more buckets and cups and just start randomly soaking people.  Soon enough, they got the idea and for close to half an hour a mild water fight ensued.  Honestly, it was one of the better FHEs that we’ve had.  Crazy what can happen when you get some help.