The Lazy Lizard

You know those times when you feel like you're in a movie and nothing happens like it's supposed to? Most people have experienced this. This is my story.

It all began when Stacey Johnson asked and asked and asked if I would do something exciting over Memorial Day Weekend. No school, no work, for three days! She convinced me to go camping in Moab and visit Arches National Park which I have not done in many, many years. 

Stacey Johnson

So as you can see, Stacey is crazy.
 
So crazy she bought a fancy pants elegant camping chair instead of a regular one. Who does that!?

Early Sunday afternoon we packed a tent, blankets, flashlights, a clock, snacks, brats, hobo dinner ingredients, firewood, camping chairs, antifreeze, and took off heading south. The drive down was great. Weather in the 60's and partly cloudy. After a few hours we had reached Arches entrance.


We decided to first find a campsite to stake out, set up, and cook up some grub. Being Memorial Day, the first couple dozen we saw were taken/reserved so we kept onward, eventually ending up approx. 20 miles from Moab, having just turned off the road and driven 100 feet. Stacey's car just completely shut off and after being startled for a second, we realized it was overheated. We popped the hood and let it cool for about 30 minutes while we wandered to avoid being asked if we needed help by fellow campers. Actually, we were attacking dead trees in order to collect kindling to start the giant logs we had.

We filled the radiator bowl with some antifreeze and gave it another go. I reversed out the 100 ft we had driven and then the temp. gauge started increasing so I shut it off again. We sat another 20 minutes and thought up some possibilities, agreeing we'd have to catch a ride to town if we couldn't get the car that far. We did the same thing, but this time with water. If it were to drain straight out, we wouldn't want to be completely out of antifreeze. This time we made it a solid 500 ft (part of this in neutral). After another waiting session (we were glad it wasn't 100 degrees outside), we had another car say they would follow us to ensure we made it to town. We added more water (this time while the car was running - we noticed there's a lot more pressure and less leakage) then drove on and on. 4 miles I'd say. We said thank you to the other car and they took off. We patiently took the trek 5 miles at a time until we made it to town.

We "pulled in" fingers crossed that the engine would hold out long enough for us to do something other than pour water into the sucker. First stop, glance at campgrounds. All 100% full. Oh yeah, Memorial Day. Second stop, Denny's to charge the phone, look up numbers, eat grub, and ask for advice. We got just that. We were told the best place in town for a good price was the "Lazy Lizard Hostile." Personally, I've never stayed in a hostile, but am aware they aren't known for their eloquence. We called all the campgrounds we could find and had zero success. Third stop, hotels. Let me remind you we were driving in a car on the brink of croaking. We checked the first; no vacancy. Second; no vacancy. From the third on, neon signs showed us "no vacancy." We came to one about 8 or 10 hotels down the road (almost the end of town) which read "vacancy." I was hesitant to even turn in because I figured the "no" in "no vacancy" on their sign had burned out and the manager would be tired of informing people of this. We turned around and pulled in. I took a look at the car while Stacey found out the info. A minute later she came out and told me the verdict: ONE room left (in possibly the last hotel in town) and would cost $115, but she would give us a $99 rate. I was under the impression Stacey didn't want to spend $$, so when she said "I think we she do it" after a minute, I said "absolutely!"

 I expected the worst. High prices, crappy quality. This being the last room in Moab during Memorial Day Weekend. We weren't ready for this! Decent price and a saweeeeet room! Wood everywhere. It had the cabin feel and smell. Two beds, huge mirrors, clean, and fridge and freezer. We lucked out =  )

We woke up early to call into the auto shops and see if any were open. The first we called told us to come over, so we walked straight out the door so we wouldn't be at the end of a long line. The hotel parking lot is where we met local Larry, born and raised in Moab. Larry told us which shop to go to for foreign cars since Stacey's was a VW. He followed us there and gave us a lift back.

We came to the conclusion that Stacey needed a new timing belt and water pump, both of which the did not have stocked in Moab. He said it would be about 2 1/2 weeks!!! Turns out he was going to SLC next weekend and offered to tow it there (3 hr tow) for $100. Stacey accepted and we took that ride back with local Larry.

A few hours of posting distress statuses on facebook in hopes of catching a ride back with someone down in that area, we decided to go outside for once since we're in Moab after all. We took some snacks and ate "lunch" as we walked up the street and then down the other side towards the end of town.

Propane Pools

First, we figured out that Moab has propane pools.
Then, we found THE LAZY LIZARD!!

So glad we had a super nice hotel!
After we got back to the hotel, we tried a few more options (enterprise - closed for the day, truck rental - local use only, no bus station, no flights to Provo or near anytime soon), then decided on a grand idea; take the Amtrak (train) from Green River straight to Provo, and it was a lot cheaper than we imagined! They were slowly kicking us out (after multiple additions of late checkouts), so we decided to take out heaping pile of stuff (weighed so much) and walk the 1.1 mile to the auto shop.

We made it around halfway and I said I was sick of our slow pace carrying all this stuff and no one giving us a ride. We stopped at a gas station and I asked people as they pulled out if we could have a ride for half a mile. Some people avoided eye contact. Quite a few told me they would but they didn't have room. Which they obviously did. Three of them were the only ones in their huge trucks or SUV's. We decided to start walking again, joking that someone would offer us a ride right before the auto shop. Sure enough, along came (local Larry!) and laughed, told us to get in, and drove us the rest of the way.
We dropped stuff off in Stacey's car so we weren't carrying our portable house with us anymore, and grabbed some essentials before the auto shop closed. At this point we had around two hours to make it to the train station. We stopped at a hotel and grabbed a sharpie to make a sign to aid us in hitch hiking. We thought this would make for a better adventure story.

We came to the edge of town and staked out in the ideal hitch hiking spot for pictures.

Thumbs up to Green River! Turns out Green River is a nothing town and no one was going there. We realized we should have put "BYU" on the side of one cooler, "North" on the side of the next, and finally "Green River" on the lid, separated them by 10 ft, and have us wearing BYU attire at the end of the chain. Instead we sat here telling the drivers passing by that they're doing a good job. Every single one of them looked, but not a single one stopped.... until I was calling the Amtrak to see if the train was still 30 minutes late. Up pulled none other than Larry! "Larry, why is it always you that does us these favors?" Larry drove us the 50 minutes (thought it was 30) and took his merry time giving us the tour of town while we sat in the back, nervous we would never make it back in time for class and work the next morning. We pulled into the "station" at 6:08 when the train was supposed to arrive at 5:57.

Let me tell you about the train! Only $54.00 combined tickets, when we were willing to spend $79+gas for a rental car and had to drive back. Instead, we lounged in very big first class chairs, chilled, ate, slept, read, for three hours. After a full 24 hours of running around not know what would happen in 5 minutes it was so incredibly relaxing! Somehow we made it home.

and thus marks the end of our adventure. Nothing went as planned, but fun and nice to get away from the monotony.

On another note, Johnny visited from NY. He is going to camp in SLC for the next week and we met up Saturday to catch up for a few hours and introduce him to people. We went to eat at sonic, where we got some great deals. Buy 1 get 1 burger, $.99 croissant sandwhiches (66% off), and milkshakes 50% off. Total bill should have been $23, but it was $10.50

Sonic

 

 

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http://www.theredheadriter.com/2011/02/things-to-do-while-sitting-at-stoplight/

Kickimus Maximus Buttimus!

Speaking of buttimus's, I probably receive more phone calls than the average person. When your name is Aaron and you're at the top of the contact list, this tends to happen. Late night calls are a frequent occurrence. I'm sure booty calls are nice and all, but these aren't the kind of booty calls you want to be getting!

At work I've been learning about the construction of surveys and setting up servers to host surveys using my company's software. It's very detailed, so this will be a work-in-progress for some time. Since I've started, I've mainly read tutorials about processes and capabilities of the software. I learn my best by experience so I created dozens of programs. Below is a link to the most basic survey I could set up and host. Hopefully I can add some more intricate surveys later on. If you take this you should comment a while from now and let me know if I should post another.


BLOG SURVEY

Also at work, I learned this is what happens to you at a software company if you go on vacation. This is what programmers do at 7:45 in the morning.

Mom, you're not the only one that's crazy when it comes to hearing a joke.

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Tonight On This Week's New's

This week has been ridonculously wild.

• We have a new apartmentmate who goes by the name of Richard. He is very much welcomed. He is clean, considerate, and has even made me my favorite dinner.
• Monday Morning I went to Kneader's with Whitni and Marissa to enjoy some all-you-can-eat delicious french toast!
• I no longer have a school gym membership and am currently membershipless, so I've picked up running. I ran half an hour Monday, two hours Tuesday, an hour of hills Wednesday, and half an hour today. 
• After running I went to my first BYU lacrosse game and watched the madness. It was a lot of fun!
• Monday night I watched Super 8 with the Englands and had some more of some treats I made
• Tuesday I began Spring Term classes. I have only one class, definitely a first and looking forward to the break.

• 

  Treat #1
  

  

  Treat #2 Ice Cream Pie. Super simple. Let ice cream melt a little, stir in crushed up candy bars, stick in pie crust and freeze. Yum!
   

Tuesday night I went to my first NBA game with Uncle Wayne. It just happened to be the biggest game of the season. Jazz vs Suns. Whoever wins secures an 8 seed in the playoffs. We had first row balcony seats with no one behind us, either. Awesome! Slightly further away from games than I was used to in Pep Band, but insane nonetheless. Speaking of insane, the fans were insane. Speaking of fans, the Jazz have a lot of them. Speaking of jazz, Junior and I went to one of Greg's Jazz Synthesis concerts a few weeks ago. You may ask what we had as a snack. Oh, just a little Alex Boye Sandwhich. So... The jazz won 100-88, so all but the 15 Suns fans were happy.

Alex Boye

 Wednesday's News: I received half tuition for this upcoming year!!!! Working hard is finally paying off. So excited = ) I have literally filled out hundreds of scholarship applications since my high school years, and had all but given up on the hope of receiving this. Early birthday present. The joys of attempting to learn for free instead of pay! 

This morning (Thursday) I started work at Sawtooth Software at FIVE a.m. Somehow I am still alive... went 12 hours during the day without eating. I'll have to get used to this, but I'm excited. Thrilled to be working at my first professional job! I am doing Market Research Analysis and Customer Support for coding issues in web-based surveys using conjoint analysis. From what I can tell I will be working with huge online surveys for giant companies such as google, ebay, and toyota.

I also went to my friend's (Dani and Mimi) wedding reception. It took me 75 minutes to make the 40 minute drive, and I got lost for a minute, but the good thing about Utah is I just drive toward/away from the mountains. Within 2 minutes of putting away my directions, I located her street. I've never actually been lost... just head in the general direction you want to go. There were tons of people there and adorable nieces and nephews!

Harvey Unga

I'll also throw in a picture last week. Just studying in the math lab with my bud Harvey Unga.
Did I say math lab? I meant stud lab! Fellow nerds unite!!!

Oh, how I miss the snow!

and home...

There's no place like home!

Adult Playground

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning this semester I got to play around in this jungle gym. Please note that I couldn't do a cartwheel prior to this class (and probably still can't very well). So if this looks easy to you, it's not, or at least was quite an achievement for me.
When my mom came to visit she was sweet enough to capture some fun on the camera.
After landing on my head roughly (haha) 90 times attempting backflips on a normal trampoline, I did one in here!

Once I did that, Don (assistant to the teacher) told me to do a double backflip!

Then I had to try a little less-coordinated double frontflip

This next one is called a "kip." There are many forms of it. This one being the most basic, but difficult for most people the first time. It took me four class periods to get it.

We even took some photos of Greg P-Barring

and... the man of the hour, 79 Year Old Don! Still doing flips, spinning around bars, and showing up us beginners!

Not my proudest moment by any means, but my mom was here so I figured I would ask coach to spot me until I got this down again. Funny that she got it on camera. Sometimes you knee yourself in the hand while doing wall flips.

 

Sometimes this turns into a third degree sprain in your finger.

 ...and sometimes three weeks later you can still do this

(The ligaments on the right side of my finger are torn)

Notice I took this with my teeth, since I don't have three hands.

Courtesy of the Weight Room

Done with exams! Four exams, the shortest was 3 hours. So hard. Large curves expected.

Anyone Surprised?

1.  Growing up I had way bad allergies. I hated summer and definitely stayed inside unless it was raining. Summer = pollen = sneezing and itchy eyes. When I reached middle school my parents and I decided to try out allergy shots. After three visits and 30 injections in each arm per visit, we came to the conclusion that I was allergic to cats, dogs, dust, pollen, mold, grass, and trees. I had shots starting every week which eventually became once a month. Five years later and one episode of hives, swollen and itchy throat, loss of vision, and nurses freaking out, we decided I've had enough mini portions of exactly what my body doesn't want. What does this have to do with anything? Horses.

Have no fear, I no longer look quite this homeless

Apart from the occasional playing in friend's barns and being around the barn and farm at Grandma and Great Grandma's homes, I hadn't been around farm animals or hay too much. I've always kept my distance although my allergies are much less active. Until March 17th I hadn't been around horses for more than 5 minutes. Whitni went with me to volunteer at Hoofbeats to Healing, a therapeutic horseback riding barn set up in Saratoga Springs. I followed her around since she's a regular with this whole volunteering business. I had a great time and now understand why you're so enamored with horses. Thank you for being willing to share with me something you love.  

2. Easter, and you know what that means! Candy, and lots of it!

Space Well Used!

I love me some candy, but apparently I am way slow at eating it and get made fun of for hoarding it. I like buying it, though. If there's a good sale, whether or not I need it is of little importance. Chris loves Cadbury Eggs, so I stocked up! I strategically planned on arriving at the Wilk 5 minutes before they opened so I could scamper in and snag some tasty treats before running to class. I got there as planned, but nothing had any price tags on them. I asked the senorita candy clerk if Easter candy was on sale. Her response, "not until Easter has passed." I stood there and stared dumbly for a minute and then said (very slow) "sooooo... I shooooould come back afterrrrrrr Easterrrr?" Completely confused as though I had missed something. Then the wheels turned in her head and she caught on, freaked out, and apologized. She told me it was 50% off. Bounty = 1 bag rolo's, 1 bag reese's, 3 bags peanut m&m's, and 8 bags Cadbury Yeggs*!

Cadbury Eggs

For my parents with dumbphones and those like myself who lack the willpower to spend hundreds of dollars every year to have a phone that does everything my computer does, scramble is heavenly. This smartphone game is pretty much boggle on your own time and I love boggle! I may or may not have played over 100ish rounds this weekend.

*Yeggs: Eggs, but likely most of them will be enjoyed by a certain Christopher James (Yegge). We'll see if I can get him to hold out a bag or two until the Fall. Then only six months of withdrawals until Yeggs are released. I think he should move to Canada where they are sold year round!

Visit From the Sweetie

My Mom is darling. She is _ _ years old (more than 38) but she looks 38. She's uber sweet.
She came to visit her father, sister, and nieces for ten days and stopped by to say hello!
I told her she had to come before 1:00 because that's when I was shortening my hair, so she showed up around 12:00 and talked for 30 minutes before taking off for a trimming. She likes long hair so I liked having her around for emotional support!

After going to a few classes together so we could lurn, she watched us lose horribly in soccer, then we had dinner and played Settlers! On Saturday we went and volunteered at Hoofbeats to Healing. My cousin Maren is on the board and plays a big role in the organization, so we were able to visit her too. My mom hadn't seen her in years. We had a great time!

 Afterward we visited family in Centerville, Bountiful, and Logan.

This was my first time in Logan. It was beautiful! We went to Bear Lake for some pictures and a good view.

On Tuesday my Mom came down again to see my gymnastics class. She took many photos and videos and played around on the trampoline. She's crazy! 

...and then she was gone. Thanks for visiting!!

Side note: Jackie visited this weekend! It was so nice to spend the day with her and meet her friend Tyler! 

As I was writing this I received an email from my Mom saying "we woke up to 8 inches of snow." I love snow so I replied "Really? Send pictures!!!" "Aha, April Fools! It's 40-50 degrees here and green grass." She got me! Youuuu sneeeeeaky Mom!

A few years ago my Dad won a plasma TV at a work lay-off party (to ease the pain?) They sent an email and told us they won it and would be giving it away because we don't have room for it, the typical answer we would expect. We were disappointed, because our old one was large and well, old. Turns out they were just kidding and informed my brothers it was a joke. I came home Christmas to find the TV in the living room. They thought they had told me it was a joke, but they hadn't. That was a pleasant surprise = ) I'm usually not this gullible...