Bizarre Bradyisms

“Investments” and Birthday Gifts

This summer I’ve been having fun and have purchased a few “items” that I have always wanted to have and play with for the past couple of years but could never justify the cost.  Well, I can’t say that my so called justification is valid, but I went ahead and bought them anyways. 

This first item is the 2nd generation of the Jawbone Bluetooth Phone Headset that does a really good job of filtering out the background noice when you are on a phone call with someone.  Unfortunately, the function buttons on the headset doesn’t seem to play well with my Sprint Mogul phone from work that runs Windows Mobile 6, but I’ll be giving that back any day now so I’ll try to find one the does work as my next phone.

Then, I finally caved a bought an iRobot vacuuming Roomba.  There is kind of a joke that Woot continuously sells these for some reason or another, so I never even entertained the thought of getting one for close to 3 years now.  However, now that I will be getting some type of an apartment of my own that will not be furnished, I will need a vacuum of some type, so why not one that vacuums for me?

Ever since I was about 12 years old, I have really enjoyed decorating my parents house in Christmas lights every year.  In fact, I would often try to make them bigger, better, brighter, and more automated each time.  Unfortunately, as I have been been living away from home and not in a place where I could do much of any type of decorating for the past couple of years, I have missed out (this past year excluded of course).  Now, I went ahead and bought a light show controller so this year I can do some sort of presentations similar to this guy.  The one I have right now is a 16-channel controller and I think each year (finances pending) I will add an additional 16-channel controller which can be daisy-chained together for shows that have 500+ channels if you would like.  Who knows what time will bring?

Then for my birthday this year, my family was all very kind with the gifts they presented to me.  I haven’t been around family for my own birthday since sometime in 2002, so it was really different for me to get actual gifts.  I know I am a very difficult person to shop for because when I want something, I buy it, and thus don’t leave a lot of room for others to offer any type of gifts besides gift certificates or cash.  However, my entire family was very thoughtful with what I received, so thanks so much each and every one of you.  I love you all.  My brother Nelson and his wife purchased a fire-proof safe for me to lock up all of my important documents such as my passports, maybe even a will (should I have one of those already?), and perhaps other memorabilia.  I guess that means I truly am an adult when I have to start thinking about things like that.  My sister Eliza and her husband Bryan purchased a CD of Wynton Marsalis’ new Jazz CD for me which was great because I was actually thinking about getting a copy myself after enjoying the concert so much.  Tess bought me the 1st season of the HBO TV show, “Flight of the Conchords” which a band/show from New Zealand trying to make their place in the US.  While sometimes a bit crude, there is some funny stuff to be found. Finally, my parents purchased a full set of temple clothing for me because I have never actually owned my own and always had to rent them whenever I went. Now, maybe I can convince myself to attend a little more frequently. Thanks again to all of you.

A Loss of Keys

Yesterday I started the beginning stages of officially closing up all of my affairs here in Colorado. I turned over various key cards for some of the clients I worked for to the people who will now be supporting them in the future. Then, at Family Home Evening last night I turned over the various church building keys to my co-chair because I am no longer a member of the committee in my ward. Then, within a few more days I will be turning over the actual key and and key card to the office building I work at since Thursday will be the last day I will be employed by Solve IT.  Call it a good thing or a bad thing, but either way my key ring and wallet are getting smaller and smaller each day as objects are removed from them.  For some reason I have yet determine why, I can never seem to settle down and just keep things the same. Ever since graduating from high school in 2001, I have never kept the same job or lived at the same location for more than 15 months before packing up and changing things around again. The weird part about that is that I don’t consciously like change. It takes me a good 6+ months to feel comfortable in any new situation and then by the time things start to go well for me, something happens and all of sudden it is time to go again.  Granted, I knew this upcoming change was going to occur and it is not a surprise in the least, however, it still makes me wonder.  Just another adventure I guess.

Like I said, Thursday, July 31, 2008 will be my last day employed here in Colorado.  I was hoping to stay around a little bit longer so that there wasn’t a very long hiatus time period between whatever job I end up getting, but my current boss wanted to finish things off at the end of the month to keep things simple for billing, insurance, etc.  While it doesn’t exactly make me happy, I can understand his reasoning.  Everyone knows I am leaving and thus I have been handing off my work-load to others and now I don’t have a lot to really contribute to the company.  Why should he have to pay me to just be around?  Good thing I have enough cash saved up so I can survive for about 2 months without going into debt again. 

After I found out about this information, I called a company back from Draper, UT who had contacted me about a job position but were unable to pay for me to come out and interview in person.  They were still had an opening and I asked if I could come out in a week and interview with them.  I then booked a flight to Utah (hard to beat $129 considering the current cost of gas) and began making arrangements to look for apartments and meeting with school counselors while I would be in the area.  Wednesday came and I flew into SLC at 10:00am and my aunt was kind enough to pick me up and get me to by interview in Draper by 11:00.  The interview was just over an hour long and went fairly well.  We just talked about what their company does and what type of expectations they have for a potential employee as well as simply chat about what I’ve been doing in my current job and what my plans are for the next 2 or 3 years.  After I left the interview, they didn’t tell me when they would make a final decision about a job offer but I have since found out they are waiting for one other candidate interview on August 4th until they make their choice.

I’d really like to work for these people because the company seems to be in good shape financially, the two people I would be working with for the most are friendly, laid back, but quite intelligent as well.  Plus, since their company is growing internationally (Armenia, Romania, Pacific areas), it possibly could open opportunities for me to travel the world like I have always wanted to.

After the interview, we went around and looked at number of apartments in the area and found one place that would be spectacular if I am offered the job.  It is right off of 9400 S  and 500 W by a golf course owned by the city of Sandy, very well maintained, and appears to have a nice community feel to it.  I would probably end up getting a two bedroom, one bathso I could have an office for studying and working and wouldn’t have to deal with some roommate I don’t know at all.  If, however, the job falls though, I will probably have to find somewhere else because I wouldn’t be able to afford the rent on the type of jobs I would find on short notice.  I have sent out a number of other resumes and some are starting to come back, but nothing that would be as good of a fit as what I interviewed for. 

Then on Thursday, I borrowed the car and drove down to Provo to say “Hi” to a couple of friends who are still in the area.  I hadn’t realized that July 24 in Utah is a state holiday and thus a lot of place were closed for the day, but I enjoyed the time for relaxation anyways.  I spent some time with my old roommate Kyle who was working on building out a new server for The Board and then we both went and had lunch with another friend Lynette at California Pizza Kitchen.  Then afterwards we went back to Kyle’s place and watched Dr. Horrible again.  I then went and met up with Nicki who was packing up and getting ready to leave for Washington DC for grad school at George Washington University the following day.  I can’t say I’ve been good at all during the past year keeping in close contact with much of anyone from Utah, but it was nice to know that the friendships were still there and kicking. 

Then, Friday night, I was setup (kind of) on a blind date with a girl (Bryn) from my aunt’s ward in Pleasent Grove.  She is a cello player who graduated from USU in 2007 and is on her way to Ohio to get her masters degree in cello performance.  I picked her up and we went to a place that came highly recommended called the Harvest Grill located at Thanksgiving Point.  It was a quite fancy of a restaurant for a first let alone blind date, but we decided it was okay and stayed anyways.  The food was good, but not excellentas I would have expected for the price, but it turned out okay overall.  We then went and met up with my friends to go and see a free pioneer day dance performance in Springville that a friend of a friend was performing in.  Fun to watch, but it got a little long winded and difficult to follow the storyline. 

Saturday I made my way up to SLC to visit my Grandma and my Aunt Sherie for the weekend.  We went to lunch at a new Red Robin they had just opened up in their neighborhood.  Then that night they both were invited to the Pioneer Day performance at the conference center in the city.  I just relaxed and watch a couple of movies until I fell asleep sometime that night.  Sunday we went to church at their ward and I found out halfway through the meetings that my flight back home was scheduled for 4:47 PM and we got out at 4:15.  Luckily, they had two other flights that evening which were wide open so I was able to get back without any additional costs.

On a side but very important note, my Dad was just called to be the bishop of the Alameda ward in the Lakewood, Colorado stake.  We kind of knew something was going to happen for the past month or so but we were not given the specifics until last week on Sunday night.  Unfortunately, I had already purchased my plane tickets by then and the cost of moving them up an additional 24 hours was too much, so I was unable to be there for his setting apart.  I did hear from various sources that it went well and they both gave great talks and testimonies.  I know it is going to be a difficult number of years as he works hard to serve and help these people.  I love him, appreciate him, and look up to him for his willingness to accept such a calling knowing beforehand how much work it will be for the next 5-8 years.  Good luck Dad! 

PS – My ex-roommate’s (Josh) Dad is also a Bishop and he suggested that we make shirts that say, “Son of a Bish”.  I got a few laughs out of that from my family, but requested that I not actually follow through with it.  Who knows what will happen.

13,149,000

Can you guess what the title of this post refers to? No, nothing coming to mind? I didn’t think anyone really would, but it doesn’t hurt to try. The number actually refers to the total hours that I have been alive as of sometime today. There is a little ambiguity there because I don’t recall exactly what time of day I was born and didn’t want to check my birth certificate, but that number does include the appropriate corrections needed due to leap years. At first, when I did the simple math to compute the answer, I was surprised at how comparatively small it seemed to me. When I think of everything I’ve been able to see and learn and do in all of those many hours, I’m okay with the what the outcome has been. Of course there is always room for growth, but then again, you are only thirteen million one hundred forty nine thousand hours old (read: young) once in your life and I believe that you should enjoy each and every moment while you can.

There has been a lot going on right recently and I know I won’t remember it all, but I’ll try my best.  Last weekend on Friday, my brother Nelson and wife Leah invited everyone to go to a drive-in theatre with them and their children.  I had never been to one before and having the limited social life that I do, I accepted such an invitation along with Eliza and Bryan who are now back from Chicago and living at home again.  We had to get there something like two hours before the show started to ensure we could get a good spot in the parking lot.  This was just fine because they brought along bake-at-home pizza, salads, popcorn and other treats so we just sat outside and watched the kids play and enjoyed the conversation.  The movie was a double-showing of “Hulk” and “Get Smart” so that was good.  I couldn’t hear a lot of the movie because the wind was fairly strong almost the entire night and they didn’t want to turn up their van’s radio very high so the babies could eventually fall asleep.  In fact, I feel asleep for a good portion of the second film and didn’t pay much attention to the first anyways so I’ll have to see them again at some point in the future.  No complaints though, I had a fun time.

Then on Saturday, I took my Dad up to Fort Collins for a live performance from Wynton Marsalis jazz band as a father’s day gift.  We went up early and ate at a restaurant called “Young’s” which was a Vietnamese place that came highly recommended from Bryan’s family who live in Fort Collins.  Feeling a little adventurous myself, I went for the orange duck having never tried something like that before and Dad went with the safer bet of the sesame chicken.  It was great.  We each tried some from both plates and agreed that the duck with the orange sauce did have a very distinct difference to it (didn’t taste just like chicken) which I absolutely loved and the sesame chicken tasted a lot better than normal “fast-food” chinese places you can go to.  I think one of these days I’d like to learn how to prepare duck correctly, but that will have to be some other time.

Then we made our way to the venue when the concert was to take place and took our seats.  I knew I had been lucky and was able to purchase some pretty good seats which for some reason were not indredibly expensive, but I didn’t remember that they were in fact front row seats.  Granted, the seats were off to the side and neither of us could see Wynton himself much due to the stage design and the piano being in the way, but the rest of the band was fun to watch from so close.  It has been a long time since I was in jazz band in high school but I was reminded how much fun I had had during that time while listening to these professionals do a great job and have fun playing off of each other’s ideas and styles during their improvisations.  At the end of the concert when the band had left the concert, Wyton and the percussion band members came back for an encore and did a wonderful mini jam-session.  As time went on and they were still playing, Wynton came down to the audience floor and played a very powerful closing to the show.  Then, as he was making his way back up to the stage, my Dad and I were both able to shake his hand and say hello.  Something like that probably doesn’t mean a lot to very many other people, but I know we both appreciated the experienced.

On another sad note, while in transit to and from the concert, my Dad pointed out that I had something on the front of my car.  Close inspection revealed that it was not bird dropping as was first expected, but egg remnants that had since baked onto my car.  I didn’t get too crazy angry, but I was fairly upset for a minute or two.  It wasn’t there Friday night when I got home from work but was there Saturday evening so my guess is some punk high school idiot tried having a little fun at night and egged my car.  I try not to have enemies at all so I don’t know why someone would do such a thing to a random person without even having been provoked.  I can understand a prank, but when actual property damage is involved, why are those who think that is even okay?  Now that I think about it, I don’t think I will purchase another vehicle until I’m in a place where I can park in an enclosed garage.  I’ve tried to clean it off and it did come up for the most part, but there is still some residue which I fear will forever remain.  Sad, sad day.

Worse to Better

I’ve realized that I am much better at communicating via written words (read: email) than I had originally thought (blog excluded). Let me explain. During the past few weeks or so I have had a couple of what you could call “complicated” situations that I needed to address. Although I could have done them in person or over the phone, I really wanted to make sure I said certain things in certain ways so as to correctly communicate what I was thinking. Now granted, there are other elements of communication that are transmitted when one is speaking in person or over the phone, such as body language and voice inflections, that cannot be equally explained or understood in words alone. So, remember that written letters alone cannot and should not be the primary method of maintaining healthy business or personal relationships.

Anyways, one of these letters was to my boss who had recently announced that all of the systems engineers in the company were not billing out enough of their time to cover their own salaries. I had noticed and been aware that my own billable hours had not been great due to the lack of work to be found. Thus, understanding the situation I was in of trying to find of way of being able to keep the same job but work remotely from Utah when I move in the next month or two, I wrote a pretty extensive letter detailing my concerns. Basically, he came back and said to me that he appreciated my honesty and straightforwardness.  The result of this was two-fold. One, he took that input and included it as part of an all company meeting discussing how to increase our revenues and bill more hours.  Two, he offered me the opportunity of building out the company to Utah by opening a “franchise” there of which I would me the primary individual getting new clients keeping a large majority of the actual income.  I’m still thinking about the opportunity and what I’d like to do for sure, but I’m leaning towards declining the offer because the risk is just too high for me right now (still have to pay the bills) and I think if I followed that course I would get distracted from my primary motivation of being in Utah which is to finish school. 

So I don’t find myself in a difficult situation come 4 weeks from now, I’ve started sending out resumes and applications to various job openings in the Utah and Salt Lake Counties.  I’ve gotten a couple calls backs and phone interviews but they either need someone immediately or don’t like that fact that I’m currently living in Colorado.  One opening has kind of caught me by surprise and I feel really good about the location and job description.  It is located in Draper and they contract out for the Hill Air Force base up in Ogden.  One thing that kind of excites me is that I would be employed to focus on one company’s IT infrastructure instead of trying to validate every 15 minutes of my life to make sure I can bill the right people for my time.  The person who I spoke with said my resume stood out from the 15 or so he had received.  He asked if I would be willing to get out there for an in-person interview and I said I would as long as he thought there was a good chance that it could be a good fit for the both of us.  I’m awaiting a follow up call towards the end of this week.  I don’t plan on getting my hopes up, but I feel good about it.

To regress a little about what I stated before about some of the written letters I had sent as of late, one of them was sent to a friend of mine in response to an inquiry about how awkward I had been acting in the past couple of days.  To keep private things private, I won’t mention the details about what was said, but suffice it to say that my actions were indeed “off” and it was due to, as a reason but not an excuse, the large number of decisions I was being faced with such as the job offer described above, where to live in Utah, how to proceed with school, etc.  Basically they all hit me at once and my brain just felt so overloaded that I started ignoring the little things of social interactions that make personal relationships possible.  I got called out it and recognized that I had screwed up.  The “funny” part about it all is that it occurred over the course of about 2-3 days and I had potentially messed up a good 1+ months worth of effort on my part.  In the end, I explained myself and apologized.  I hope I’ve been forgiven, but there are certain things that can never be truly forgot.

On to less serious matters.  For the holiday weekend, I kind of kept it kind of simple.  Thursday, one of my co-workers mention that there would be a free concert being held in Downtown Denver at 7:00, so after work I went to the City Park and saw the Colorado Symphony Orchestra perform a number of patriotic works.  The weather was kind of iffy at first and it did actually rain for about 10 minutes causing a short delay, but then it cleared up and was just beautiful.  I laid out on blanket I brought with me and gazed out into the sky.  The music that was played included the Battle Hymn of the Republic, The 1812 Overture, Variations on the Armed Forces themes, the National Anthem, and many others.  I have to admit, I did feel kind of lame for a moment or two being there alone, but then I got over it, and life went on.  Now, I’ve been told that while Colorado sunsets are pretty, those in New Mexico are even better.  Obviously I can’t have a valid opinion on a subject of which I have no personal experience, but this photo is simply beautiful to me.   

On Friday day, Nelson’s family came down from Arvada and we all went up to a park about 20 minutes into the mountains.  We had a nice picnic, played in a nearby stream with their little boy Hayden, and just relaxed.  Also, no one else in the family had ever done a Diet Coke / Mentos fountain so Nelson rigged up a simple contraption prior to leaving for the park to perform the simple experiment.  It went well and all those involved were quite pleased with the results.  Too bad we don’t have thousands and thousands of bottles with which we could experiment.  Oh well.

Friday night, I was able to easily convince my parents to go watch the fireworks with me on a hill above Bandimere Speedway.  They were supposed to start at dusk so we arrived around 8:45 hoping for a start time of around 9:00PM.  Much to our disappointment, they didn’t actually get started until about 10:10 just as were about to give up and go home.  In the end, I must admit it fun to watch because we could see not only those launched at Bandimere but all of the fireworks being launched over the entire metro area.

Then on Saturday morning and afternoon, myself, Tess, Mom, and Dad all worked on getting the final load of dirt that had been delivered to our driveway moved to the backyard retaining wall that we have been constructing for about 3 months.  Besides a couple wheelbarrows here and there, I alone moved close all of the dirt by hand over the course of about 4 to 5 hours.  Overall, I think there was about 75-100 complete loads that were loaded and unloaded.  My the end of the day we were all quite tired and I know that my own shoulders were just aching from all of the weight.

Saturday night, Janette and I went to the Cherry Creek Art Festival.  Although we were a little concerned about the weather that evening and it took a little walking around to find the actual festival, it turned out to be be fun.  Granted, I don’t know if I will ever be in a position in life or let alone feel comfortable to spend $600+ on a painting or a photo, but nonetheless.  One photo artist that both liked was called Scanlan – Windows to the World just due to the way the light was used and how well the colors came out.  IF you look at the website for their photos so will see they are nice. but let me say, they are much prettier in person.  After the festival itself, we went back to the car to grab chairs and watch the fireworks that were to be displayed.  The best part about it all was that we end up just walking a little ways down the sidewalk outside of the parking garage and setup the lawn chairs in a small grassy area.  It must have been a funny sight to see for the drivers going past us, but it was probably as good of a view as one could ask for. 

The fireworks show itself was kind of sad because as rich of a city as Cherry Creek is, the show only lasted just under 10 minutes and the size of the fireworks used were quite lame.  It finished quickly and instead of getting up quickly to try and beat the traffic that would quickly ensue, we stayed there talking while watching the cars pack onto the streets and try to leave.  It must have been a good 20 minutes later when we got up started walking back to the car.  Realizing the traffic was still quite packed, we instead found a bench by the “Cherry Creek” itself and got caught up in conversation for the next hour and half.  For some reason or another, conversations between the two of us seem to involve BYU and our frustrations with the culture there and that although I doing okay with having a good attitude about having to go back,  I’m not what you would call “excited” about it. 

Not that I need to apologize or anything, but sorry for the extremely long post.  I think I’m still missing something I wanted to add, but it’ll have to wait for next time.