PROVO CANYON!

My dreams came true! I got to go to Provo Canyon! Woot! Something about this Canyon draws me in. I've only been there thrice now, but I still love it every time! This time there were deep green foothills and looking towards the peaks up top you could still see snow-blasted trees! And the weeds aren't all huge and ugly yet either. Everything is so green, trim, and beautiful. The air was cool, great for some long-boarding adventures. It was a a tremendous way to spend Memorial day with friends. Nick's face first luge cracked me up in pieces! Sarah had a close call with a cyclist, we'll call him Bart. There were 3 lanes for walking and riding, and Bart decided to stay in the middle lane instead of merge into the lane furthest away from us. Well, Sarah, caught up to Nick and I, and went to go around us right as the cyclist was all upons. Sarah screamed, bailed, and Bart's front tire cracked the nose of her board and subsequently popped, he slammed on the breaks and, like a champ, gently laid his bike down on the byway. We were all stunned and ran to see if he was okay. He was fine, just wanted ten bucks for a new tire, and told us "you gotta stay in your lane." Well, he's right, but at the same time, he shoulda merged! Its like my dad told me once "He had the right as he sped along, but he's just as dead as if he were wrong." Or in this case: "Bart had the right as he sped along, but he's just as wrecked and with a popped tire and a slightly achy shoulder as if he were wrong." or, "He had the right as he sped along, but he shoulda switched lanes to avoid our throng" or, "He was riding his bike in Provo Canyon, and didn't use his common sense companion." or "Sorry dude for making you wreck, but you shoulda switched lanes, what the heck!" I think it was a lesson in physics for us all.
Heading back to Idaho tomorrow. Today is my last day of sales. Its kinda bitter sweet. I might come back here to Utah after Badger for three weeks before school starts. We'll see! Only time will tell, and time will tell us well.

Transitions

I called mom and dad. It was nice. Life is gooooOOOOOOOOoood, and that's life!

Planes, trains, and crankshafts

The planes: flying to Texas. The trains: waiting at the tracks (and counting the train cars, there were 45 in the last one), and crankshafts, well, they facilitate the reciprocating motion of the pistons in our car engines (maybe the trains and planes have a crankshaft too? I really don't know, but I would assume so...). Yup, cars are how we most often get around (don't forget to change your oil every 3,000 miles, rotate tires every 5,000, and change your breaks when they squeak).
Matt's wedding was phenomenal. (I was just thinking, my English teacher would be disappointed if he ever read my blog because there's so much blatancy going on, and not enough verbage. If I've got all this time to think about what I'm going to write, why make it so bland? So I'm going to try my best to overhand throw verbs into my sentences. So let me try that first sentence again:) Matt's wedding exploded phenom. Hmmm...that's not bad! Texas was humid, the irons in the hotel failed, but those were the only negative things about the whole trip. Actually, you know what, they aren't negative. They're memories! Just like the 6 hour layover in Denver (due to weather), the brown water gulf coast, the Tex Mex, the swimming pool, the cake, the music, the thrill of flight (up to 600 mph!), the toads, the wedding colors, the Richardsons, the chiropractic adjustment (this after my apprehension squirmed all inside me, but after having seen 4 successful adjustments, I judged the odds of not being paralyzed to be in my favor), the show "River Monsters," the lack of sleep, the bow-ties, the word "y'all" (as in "how y'all doin'?") the word "fixin'" (as in "we're fixin' to head" as in "we're fixin' to leave"), the rustic feel of the reception, the partition pillow in the La Quinta, the most interesting man in the world jokes, seeing my aunts, the conversations in the rental car, my little sister always getting the window seat, downloading free apps, eating too much, the whole sha-bam yards.
Work is still working. Learnin' loads!

A Sibling's Week of Finals and Matrimony

Yup, its my brother, Matt! He's getting finished up with a semester at school on Friday and getting married on Saturday. We're all flying down to Texas for the event and I'm pretty stoked to see everyone and excited for him to get married.
The latest for me: I blogged last week! I know, its crazy. And I'm blogging again this week.
I'm also really liking my job. I've been reading a book called "Good to Great" to accompany my experience here and that has been a great supplement to my learning. I view my time here working for Utopia kind of like an unofficial internship. I know it probably lacks what a "real" internship entails, but hey, I'm still counting it toward my education.
I was able to visit some mission friends down there and rekindle those friendships. Now there's friendship fires blazing everywhere!
The banjo playing is coming along. Badger Creek better be ready for some legit foot-stompin, heart-poundin, head-bobbin bluegrass! ...come to think about it, maybe I should practice a little more.
I may have failed to mention I signed up to do an event called "The Tough Mudder." Whew. It should be pretty tough, based on the name, the videos, the photos, the commentaries, and the facts. Its a ten mile obstacle course, up and down a ski resort, and the training for it is pretty grueling (if you're truly training). I've kinda started getting in shape but I've a lot more working out to do. I'm driving out to Nor-Cal with a few of my old room-mates and a couple of friends on September 16th. It should be a monumental comradeship building opportunity, coupled with great memories. Probably a once in a life-time deal.
I've been able to spend some time at my sort-of, kind-of, brother and sister in laws's house. Brett and Ciara Richardson. Matt is marrying his little sister, and I'm Matt's brother, and Brett and Ciara are my friends...so whatever that makes us! They feed me food and I get to play with their kids, and Brett and I even planted a garden, which is coming along great, I might add. Whew, the punctuation in this paragraph has been really hard. I don't know if I got it all right! Anyways, Brett and Ciara are bomb.
Now for a tid-bit I've learned recently about optimism while reading and thinking. Optimism is a great thing to have, but you can't put a deadline on optimism. I do believe in having goals with deadlines, but the enduring anchor of an optimistic attitude will eventually break its chain if you impose a time limit on it. This does not mean live oblivious to your problems, because all the while you have got to come to grips with your current situation. "Good to Great" calls this "confronting the brutal facts." And that's what I aim to do: confront the brutal facts, control what I can control, change what needs to be changed, and don't fret too much about things outside of my control, while never losing faith in the future. Wow, more came out of this paragraph then I expected. Its funny how writing can often help you think things through and solidify it in your mind.
Farewell!

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Well, its not me! The Greatest Salesman in the World was a book written by OG Mandino.
So, if anyone is reading this, I know what you're thinking: "He's going to try it again? He's really going to try blogging again?" I assure you this time its different because...alright. Only time, and posts, will tell if this time is different.
Life is going fantabulous. Matt (my brudder) is getting married next weekend, I'm living in Salt Lake advocating and selling a fiber optic network called UTOPIA, and I'm done with school for 5 months. Well, about 4 months now. Badger Creek starts June 3rd and I'm pretty stoked about that. It will be sad to leave Utah for a couple of reasons though. I'm really liking my job and I've met some truly amazing people. Life just works that way, I suppose. Wherever you go, you'll find those gems, even outside of the Gem State (heh heh haha, my fellow Idahoans will totally get that one!).
Oh, shoot, this is one of those times where there's so much to say but I'm not sure how in depth I want to go. Sheesh. Its like a pie chart, or a garden, or however you want to think about it. There's so much breadth to cover that I can't really jump deep into any one particular subject without writing a short soliloquy on the intracellular chemistry, extrinsic motivators, and every blade of luck that have made up the past 5 months of my existence.
So here it is, in 5 megabytes:
1) I had some stellar room mates this last semester. Much thanks to Kyle, Jake, Dan, and myself.
2) I feel like I'm growing up: I opened up a new bank account (and should be getting a credit card, ho ho ho, to start building credit, not to financially ruin my life), I'm reading a book, I'm not living in the state of my birth, and I have bought many goods on impulse as of late.
3) I love my family. Always have, always will.
4) I'm learning to play the banjo
5) I was a chemistry tutor last semester.
Yup, that about sums it up. The framework for a beautiful picture, with no details.
I'll write again, hopefully before September.