First

I have a feeling that this isn't going to last through the weekend so I'm going to gloat in my greatness right now. Remember that ESPN bracket I invited ya'll to join? Well, by way of a stunning comeback, I am now solidly in first place (by 40 points, mind you). Alison is right on my tail so we'll be cheering wildly against each other for these last three rounds. Isn't March Madness the best?

Flag Friday - Chicago Cubs

I went to a Cubs game with my family when I was younger and they were giving out free Cubbies hats. I had to buy the pennant.

Flag Friday - Cincinnati Bengals

I realize that it is unbelievable, but there really was a time when the Bengals weren't horrible.

Let the games begin!

I'm a little slow in getting this posted, but everybody is invited to join my NCAA Tournament group on espn.com. This year appears to be particularly exciting with the Utes back in action in the tourney, BYU getting a second chance at the Aggies of Texas A&M and Utah State playing their games a short 4-hour drive from Logan. To be a part of this yearly tradition:

1. Visit the group's homepage at espn.com

2. Join or search for the group "SmartyPants"

3. Enter the super-secret password "red" (without the quotation marks, of course)

4. Create your bracket

5. Be embarrassed as I destroy the competition, simply because I chose Utah to go all the way...

As usual, there will be no prizes aside from the losers pride unless Alison decides to chip in a few bucks. Feel free to invite your friends and remember that you only have until Thursday morning!

Go Jazz!

I'm a little bit slow in posting this, but I still wanted to get it out there. Last Friday night, my good friend Dan took me to see the Jazz play the Nuggets. Not only that, but the seats he bought were on the 14th row! It was amazing.

Alison and I always try to get to 1 Jazz game a year, but it's hard for us to justify the expense for 1 night of fun. Now that we can't get student discounts, it will be harder to get there.

The game was a great one. The Jazz got down big early and were down by 10 at halftime. With three minutes to go in the first half they only had 26 points. Even with them playing so poorly, we were never really nervous that they were going to lose the game - and as it turns out, they came out with a vengeance in the second half and quickly put the Nuggets away.

Thanks Dan for a great game. I owe you big time. While there, I had a fun time messing around with my camera and took a handful of pictures.

Warm-up Pictures:
D-Will:
Korver (for Alison):
Coach Sloan and Coach Johnson:
Tip-off:
The Arena (click to enlarge):
The Obligatory Jazz Dancer (for Dan, of course)...:

Flag Friday - Lake Powell

2. Lake Powell. It's been a long time since I've been to Lake Powell, but when I was younger we went there quite a few times. It is one of my favorite places to vacation. I wish we could get there more often.

Flag Friday - Jackson Hole, Wyo.

I wish this post was about how we went to Jackson Hole, but that is not the case. There was a time in my life when I was a pretty darn cool kid. The biggest reason why I was so cool was because I had a ton of pennants hanging up in my bedroom growing up. Every wall was covered. I've got no use for these pennants anymore (because I've found other, more interesting ways to be cool), but I can't throw them away without giving them the farewell they deserve. So, every Friday (at precisely 10:00 AM) for the next 11 1/2 months or so I will be featuring one of my beloved pennants on this here blog. Call it "Flag Friday" if you must, but I will finally be able to throw these pieces of trash away guilt-free. Can you believe I used to even iron them when they would somehow get wrinkled? OCD.

1. Jackson Hole, Wyo. Every summer for a bunch of years we went up to Afton, Wyoming (Star Valley) to go camping with my grandparents. We would hike, golf, ride bumper boats and often make a quick trip into Jackson Hole. This was from one of those trips.

New Office

We’ve been there for a month now, but I thought I should still share the news. My company (Spectrum Engineers) moved from the Historic [piece of crap] Walker Center (see picture above) on the corner of 2nd South and Main Street to a 5 story red brick building on the corner of State Street and 3rd South (the old location of Auerbach’s Department Store). At the Walker Center my company had 4 floors and we will now all share the same floor at the new building. In addition, our space is going for LEED Platinum (the highest possible honor, and only one other building project has been certified as such in Utah so far). Basically, this means that our new office space is about as environmentally friendly as is possible. The carpets are 70% recycled materials, the furniture is either recycled or made from renewable bamboo, the lighting is state-of-the-art (LEDs, daylighting and extensive occupancy sensor control), and all of the mechanical equipment is of the highest efficiency. The offices are quite a bit smaller (but they were really big at the Walker Center) and there is a lot more collaboration/conferencing space. Many of the employees were looking forward to moving from the Walker Center, but had a lot to complain about in the new space. Now that we have been there a month, I think that most of us like the new space quite a bit. So far, the downsides are that the bathrooms aren’t finished yet (we’ve got to trek down to the second floor) and a bunch of the other rooms and areas still have workers trekking through them. I also quite enjoyed having my 10th floor office overlooking Main Street. It’s more exciting than State Street. Did I mention I love my job?

My old office:

New office: