Link Dump, Barf and a Video

Alison and I haven't been feeling very well the last couple of days. We either had some food poisoning or a short case of the stomach flu. My incident started yesterday afternoon at around 4:30 and lasted about 22 hours. For me, the worst part of being sick is that I don't get any paid time off from my job so by taking a sick day, Alison and I basically lose out on $150+ that I would have made that day. I only puked three times but pooped as many times in that 22 hour period as I normally do in 3 1/2 weeks...

On to a cleaner subject - Here are a few interesting links:

• For everybody that loves Jamba Juice as much as I do, wisebread has posted a coupon for a buy one get one free. See the post here.
• If you were to dig a hole straight through the Earth, where would you come out? See here.
• I love roller coasters and I've been on many of the best. Check out the roller coaster database.
• Another map, this one with options to see how the Earth looks from the Sun, the moon or other places in real time.

Lastly, here's a funny video from Google Video:

XPAM

ps. Happy Birthday Alison!

3 Years Already!?

Today this blog is 3 years old! Between this blog and my book review blog I have 195 posts and almost 4300 visits (since the beginning of August 2006). My first post came more than a year before my second (so this 3-year birthday is a little deceiving) but since then I have become more and more consistent in my ramblings. Here's to another 3-years of randomness!

It Was A Wedding!

If you read Alison's blog then you may already know that my brother Jordan got married to Morgan Chatwin on Thursday. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and the ceremony was excellent. They had the wedding dinner on Wednesday evening at Eaglewood Golf Course in North Salt Lake. Being the best man and all, I had a chance to share a few thoughts (which I might add went very well).

After the wedding we ate at The Pantry at the Lion House. It was the first time for both Alison and myself. We both enjoyed it and would certainly consider eating there again.

Their wedding reception was held in my parents backyard. The yard looked great but it was a little warm outside for most of the reception. Of course their car was decorated in the usual fashion complete with dragging aluminum cans (litterbugs). When Alison and I got married our car was also decorated and I wasn't terribly pleased by this (even though I didn't even have to clean it up). To make up for my anger over our car being decorated, I took it upon myself to wash Jordan and Morgan's car while they are away. I think that I've now made up for any previous indiscretions (over the car that is).

**I don't have a copy of Jordan and Morgan getting married so please enjoy the above random couple in front of the Salt Lake Temple (which I kifed from some unknown website).

Work

Work has been good.

3 of the last 4 days that I've worked they've supplied buffet lunches. Will they keep this up? They better...

Les Mis

Alison and I went to Les Miserables at the Pioneer Memorial Theater on Monday night. It was my Valentines Day gift to her. When I purchased the tickets, they had just extended their run and I had the full choice of tickets. We sat on the third row 2 seats to the right of center stage. Because I am a student, I was able to get the tickets for 1/2 price. They were great seats and the show was excellent.

One of the best parts of the whole show was the set. I thought that it was simply fantastic and all the set changes were very smooth. Most of the singers were excellent as well. Alison and I both thought that Thenardier almost stole the show. His facial expressions and acting were just hilarious. Valjean was excellent as well. It took a couple of songs to get used to his voice. All of the women were great, my only complaint would be taken up with Javert. He was a good singer but he seemed to be forcing it too often - almost to the point of shouting his lines.

Happy Valentine's Day Al!

A Day at the Beach

On Saturday Ada and I went to Willard Bay with my family to go boating. I got Ada up at 6:30 so that Alison could feed her and then we went to my parents’ house where we hitched a ride to the lake. When we got there, the boat wouldn’t start because the battery was dead. My Dad and I went to Wal-Mart in Brigham City to get the battery charged and tested. It just ended up that the battery was dead and we had to buy a new one.

When we returned to the lake and installed the battery, the boat ran like a charm. Needless to say we didn’t get on the water as early as we wanted to. This turned out to not matter much because my first ski was as good as any I’ve ever had at Willard Bay. The water in the lake was really low. I guess they have been repairing the dikes and they had to drain much of the water in order to do that. The beach that we usually use was pretty much unusable. This was probably the first and last time that we will ski Willard bay this year. The water was a little cold but it was surprisingly smooth. After skiing a little bit, I went wakeboarding as well. It was a great time.Ada enjoyed the boat. She was a little fussy when we were stopped but when we were moving and the wind was blowing in her face, she loved it. She actually ended up falling asleep in Morgan’s arms in the boat. We ended up making her a nice bed out of life-jackets on the floor of the boat where she slept soundly. When we got back to the beach, Ada and I played in the water (which she enjoyed once she was acclimatized) and in the sand.
I took the greatest care in keeping all of my stuff dry but during one mental lapse I had my cell phone in the pocket of my swimsuit. Stupidly I got into the water before I remembered and I soaked my phone. I’m letting it dry out but it has yet to work since then. Sooooo, if anybody has an old Sprint cell phone that they would like to donate to me, then I would love to relieve you of it. I’m sure that all of you backup your computer data every week but let this be a lesson to you all to also back up your cell phone data in case you lose your phone or ruin it like I did. A couple of winters ago, I lost my cell phone while snow-skiing at Park City. My phone was buried in the snow for 3 weeks before it was found and turned in. Amazingly enough it worked perfectly. Not so this time (at least not yet…).

Alison didn’t go boating because she threw a baby shower for one of her friends. I’m sure that she enjoyed the time off from taking care of Ada though. Ada will be skiing by the time she’s 3!

The NBA Finals

The NBA Playoffs are upon us and Alison and I are both cheering loudly for Cleveland. Here are our picks for the Finals.

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (2) Cleveland Cavaliers

Alison: Spurs in 5


Tyler: Cleveland in 6 (I haven't picked against the Cavs yet and they haven't let me down ;))


Round 1 Predictions
Round 1 Scores
Round 2 Predictions
Round 3 Predictions

On Call...

Yesterday I put in 11.5 hours at work (I was shooting for 12 but Ada was being very, very naughty at home and Alison requested my presence earlier), but I was ready to put in more. As anybody that lives in Utah or the midwest knows, there is a huge storm system moving through. On the Wasatch front, the forecasters predicted wind gust of 50-70 mph, heavy rain and snow on the benches. Because of this, Rocky Mountain Power opened their emergency command system and I was asked to be on call until about 2-3 AM (because I know as much (or more) about the system than any of the newly hired field engineers). This was the first time that they've ever put me on call. Gratefully, I was never called in (It would have had to be pretty bad for them to call up an intern for help), but I was ready. Luckily these storms don't come around too often (here in Utah).

Just wait till next year...

First of all, congratulations to the Jazz for getting as far as they did this season. They exceeded expectations and it was a bunch of fun to watch them play. The best news of all is that as long as the bulk of the team stays intact over the summer (and maybe they find an upgrade at SG) then next year and the years beyond sure look exciting.

I certainly can't blame the refs for the Jazz losing to the Spurs. The Spurs are just very good and they execute flawlessly. It is high time for the NBA to get rid of the "Manu flop" though.



Here's a Raja Bell version as well.

In my opinion, the NBA's "greatest" floppers are (There are obviously more than just these fine fellows):
Manu Ginobili
Shane Battier
Raja Bell
Steve Nash
Derek Fisher
Anderson Varajao
Robert Horry