Merry Christmas...have some special water!

I have given and received some interesting gifts over the years. When I was in college, my buddy Joey and I took pictures of ourselves and gave them to all of our friends. It was a wonderful gift, I am sure, to all of those friends. I have also given and received Chia Pets. I guess those are not strange gifts, those are simply awesome!

This Christmas though, I received a memorable gift from my barber. Now, I love this woman...she is a great hair cutter and always very entertaining to talk to...this year she gave me a gift that may fix all my ailments. She bought it from a customer and then she pass it along to me-- It is a gallon of anti-oxident water taken from somewhere in the Cajun South. I have no idea what to do with it. Do I bathe in it? Do I sniff it all up to fix my sinuses? Do I just drink it down with some ice and hope that it is not poisoned with something?

Noodled

The day after Christmas. I cooked lunch for myself and the boys. One boy really wanted Mac and Cheese. Another boy really wanted Farfalle noodles. I really wanted Top Ramen. I cooked up all three. Pretty pathetic, huh? But kudos to me as well... 3 different meals in 13 minutes. How impressive, albeit not very healthy overall, is that? All three of us are happy now.

2 too many...and a Christmas Flash

We took the boys out this weekend to dinner at MacCools in Foothill Village. While we were there, Carter needed to go to the bathroom, so I took him and we went in where he had to go #2. There was another guy there, so I went in the stall with Carter while he was using the bathroom. After a few seconds Carter said, 'nothing is happening but I need to just believe I can go...yay, my poop believed and I just went!" Thanks Carter for giving me the update. The power of belief goes a long ways.

As Carter was still going, he noticed that there was a hook on the door and he asked me what it was:

Sam: Its called a hook and you can hang your coat on it.

Carter: But there is only one hook.

Sam: Yep, there is usually one person in here so there only needs to be one hook.

Carter: Sheesh Sam, what are you doing in here then?

Sam: Good point, I'll wait outside.

And yes, my boy calls me Sam.

For those that know Beckham, you also know that he spends his life with his pants hanging past his bottom. For the life of me, that boy cannot keep his pants up to his waist. And usually its me following behind him telling him to pull up his pants. Brodi took this picture and it is the all too familiar pic of Becks flashing the world.






After Dinner, we drove through Christmas Street in Salt Lake City. It did not seem to be as festive this year as in years past, but it is still a fun little drive to show the kids the lights. With that said, I don't think the kids cared much. Oh well.

You can't put a price on Awesomeness

A few days ago, I found two beautiful watches on sale (the watches, on sale, would now cost under $100,000!)...but before I made the purchase, we decided to hold off on it.

Brodi and I have decided to give each other a Roundtrip ticket to space. We are so excited. For only $200,000 a piece, we will be able to be astronauts and fly to space! I know what you are thinking...only $200K!?! Well, for that small amount of money, we'll get to fly 65 miles up into space. The entire flight takes 2.5 days...oh wait, sorry, the entire flight takes 2.5 hours. Yes, 2.5 hours. So, for only about $1,200 a minute, you get to go to space. Sounds like a steal of a bargain.

Brodi and I cannot wait. For only $400,000 total, we will get to spend half of an entire afternoon in space. If that is not money well spent, I do not know what is. The downside? I get carsick, so I am assuming that I will be puking within 5 minutes of the flight. But I can't think of a better thing--paying lots of money for lots of puking opportunities.

On a sidenote, they have already sold 300+ tickets for this journey, so we will be on a waitlist. Merry Christmas Bro...I can't wait! Feel free to join us and you can learn more about it and book your tickets here: http://www.virgingalactic.com/

The Utes win, thanks to a Prayer

I posted this picture on my facebook account, but I thought it was too good.

I have season tickets to Ute basketball. I took Carter with me. He has started Junior Jazz and is having fun...he is actually a very good dribbler. I told him we would go to the game and he could see some players who are really good at dibbling the ball. The Utes had a big game against Michigan last night. We got there early (back in college, I would get to the games an hour early to 'prepare' for big games) and we were sitting around watching the players warm up.

I told Carter that this was a big game. He was quiet for a bit and then said, 'maybe we should say a prayer.' I laughed a bit and told him that he could pray if he wanted to: He then closed his eyes and started saying a prayer. I have to admit, I kept my eyes open and fumbled for my camera.


It must have worked. The Utes won. Carter got ice cream after the game for his smart decision to pray.

Locked and loaded...in bed

This seems like a genius idea. A gun rack that you can attach right to your bed. Nothing says gun safety like being able to attach your rifle or shotgun right to your bed. Hopefully the sheet will protect any of your kids from playing with it. http://www.the-backup.com/

The only way that this idea could be even better if they had some kind of contraption where you could attach your rifle right to your pillow.

On another note--I am selling little tiny plastic bags that attach to the headboard of my bed...these plastic bags will be able to hold one grenade. You never know when you will need it and attaching it to the bed just makes sense.

Help me decide which watch to choose!

I love watches and I am now in the market for a new one and I am trying to decide on which watch to buy. Do I pick the one on the left (the Breguet Classique) Or do I pick the one on the right (the Zenith Xtreme Tourbillo)? Big decisions. I think I like the black look on the Zenith watch but the Breguet has a pretty cool look.







The more that I think about it, I like the Zenith watch more. Also it is free shipping which is important especially in this economy. I guess I will also save a little bit of money by picking the Zenith. The Breguet is a good deal at only $131,000 (about 6% saving off the regular price) but I hate having to pay that $9.99 shipping charge. I like my free shipping. The Zenith is only running at just below $93,000 (savings of around 40% off the original $145K). And factor in the free shipping, and I think it is a pretty good deal.

By picking the Zenith, that frees up around $40,000. Does anyone know of any good black shoes that would match this new watch? I can spend up to $40,000 for it, but I would prefer to spend only around $30K. Thanks for letting me know.

If anyone is interested in buying one too, you better hurry because there are not many in stock. Here are those watches:
Zenith: Click Here
Breguet: Click Here

My iphone laughs at water and calls it weak!

I dropped my iphone yesterday. Not on the ground. Not in my car. Not on a soft leather couch. I dropped it in the toilet. Yes, the toilet. Now before you all go ewwww, there was nothing in the toilet except for 'fresh' toilet water. So, thats basically totally clean, isn't it?

It was like slow motion. I was washing my hands and my phone was in my coat pocket and I must have bumped it out...I saw it flip out of my pocket and slowly descend to the bowl with me letting out a slow motion 'nooooooooooooo'...splash.

With reflexes like a cat though, I submerged my hand in the water and pulled out the iphone. I nearly performed CPR on it, but decided that it would be better to dry it off. I screamed as loud as I could to all those in the office "I need some paper towels STAT!!!!!" Shockingly enough, nobody came to my aid. I proceeded to turn it off...then dry it off...then let an occassional tear fall gently to the ground...then more drying off. And guess what? It turned back on.

Until this morning when it would not turn on. 5 hours it stayed turned off, showing no hope for a reawakening...until, guess what. It turned on again. All is good. Until my co-worker Mike informed me that his daughter dropped her iphone into the water and it worked fine for a week and then went dead forever. Let the countdown begin...but I have a good feeling about this one. The power of Apple will not be stopped by some stupid office toilet!

Trees: A Love--Hate Relationship

I love trees. A neighborhood just looks better with bunches of trees lining the street. But, let me tell you--there is a problem with trees. They frakkin' shed their leaves! March till September is fabulous. But then come October, trees decide that they need to shed their leaves and leave it all over the yard.

There is a huge tree next to our house. Love it but it does not decide to let go of its leaves until late November, December and January. Let me tell you--picking up leaves in the dead of winter, well, it aint fun. But I am counting my blessings though to have such a marvelous tree even if I am cussing while picking up all of the leaves. I do have something to be thankful for though--my apple tree only blooms apples every other year and this is the off year...so no applesauce covered driveway this winter. Yay for me!

Late Fall/Early December, I have a different job...I become a professional leaf bagger-er. If it is a sunny day, I head out and pick up leaves. Over the past few years, I am averaging anywhere between 60-85 bags of leaves filled. Right now, I am op to around 50 bags packed. That people, is a lot of leaves. The cool thing though, is that the city of Holladay has a dump off where you can take all of your bagged leaves and leave them there. They have about 20 huge dumpsters on the lot and you just drop it off. Every weekend, the dumpsters are absolutely full and it is surrounded by hundreds of bags.

Rant over.

Impressive--1 load! Not so impressive--Probably took 3 days to pack

I saw this downtown. I do not know what is more impressive--the very efficient packing job or the fact that this truck will still be able to move with that kind of load. Kudos to the driver.

The gym, ignored towels and naked men

We are members of a local gym. For the most part, we use it for tennis and swimming and we have enjoyed it. But let me be honest, there is one thing that just surprises me every single time that I go there. I am sure that I have talked about this in the past, so I apologize for bringing it up again, but I just have to post about it. Again. So, this morning, I have had a fun 90 minutes of playing tennis with my tennis partner Brandon and I head to the locker room to go grab some stuff. That is when it happens.

I do not know what it is about older men and locker rooms. I stress older men because I rarely see anyone under the age of 50 doing this. But, you walk in and there are 2-3 naked men standing at the sinks combing their hair or brushing their teeth. These guys are not using the shower right then. They are not sitting at their lockers ready to change in their clothes. These guys are standing at the sinks, buck naked, brushing their teeth. The worst part of it all? They usually have a towel slung over their shoulder.

I am trying to figure out the thought process here--yeah, I got a towel, but man, I am in the locker room and I need to be free. Seriously? Seriously? Once again, seriously? You can't take the towel off your shoulder and just wrap it around your waist? You need to stand there naked (and these are large men, often, 250 pound men) while you comb your hair, put on your contact lenses, admire yourself in the mirror, brush your teeth or pick your teeth?

My eyes rarely leave the ceiling as I scurry in, dodging large naked men to go and grab whatever I need. I also have to believe that maybe all of these men are concerned with saving our natural resources so they don't use towels which then do not need to be washed. Anyway, good times at the gym.

This hair style will never go out of style!

How cool is this? Becks is now sporting a pretty happenin' tail on the back of his head. This will drive the ladies crazy.

Sam vs. JiffyLube telephone guy

So, I had my windshield replaced and I lost the sticker that shows when I last had an oil change. I am lazy, I take my truck to Jiffy Lube. So, I call there and ask them when I last had my oil change, here is the conversation:

Sam: I just wanted to find out what the mileage was on my last oil change

JLube: What is your mileage now?

Sam: 130,000

JLube: Oh man, you need to bring in your truck as soon as possible.

Sam: Cool. Thanks. So, what was my mileage the last time I had it done.

JLube: Its been 5 months now...you really should bring in your truck as it appears that it is well over due for an oil change.

Sam: Once again, cool to know. Thanks. What was my mileage last time.

JLube: Yep, its been 5 months.

Sam: (silence)

JLube: Your mileage was 126,000 miles. So yes, you should bring it in soon

Sam: Cool, only 4,000 miles in 5 months? Wow...looks like I have some time.

JLube: You should really bring it in to get that oil change.

Sam: Cool...I will see you in a month or so.

JLube: (silence)

Sam: Thanks for the info!!!

ZING! Ok, not much of a Zing, but I was extra chipper to him. I actually like the guys I work with at Jiffy Lube...but I don't appreciate the guy on the phone acting like my car was going to implode due to not getting my oil changed at 3,000 miles. They can see that I am a loyal customer who comes in often, yet they still try and sell me on the service. Somehow, someway, my truck has survived going over 3,000 miles.

the Halloween recap you have all been dying for

Carter loves Halloween. It means that he can go as something really scary. Last year he was one of those Harry Potter death reavers. Pretty spooky. This year, he dressed up as the Grim Reaper. He was mainly excited about the scythe (yes, I had to look up that word to spell it). The parades were cool as both boys are pretty pumped to strut their stuffs around. Beckham went in two different costumes this year--Winnie the Pooh and a snake/lizard/alligator combo.



We also did the whole pumpkin carving thing. Brodi informed me that I should not be using a machete to do the carving. Huge accomplishment though--no fingers were lost. Brodi also decided to use the oven, and we had toasted pumpkin seeds. I would have put a picture of Brodi getting the seeds out of the pumpkin, but she would not have been pleased as she looked like she was going to be sick in every picture (she has a thing with goopy food things on her hands). The boys were pleased.



Halloween evening, we stopped by both sets of grandparents to show off the kids. They were a big hit and they scored some candy there.






The rest of the night was running around the neighborhood collecting candy. After we got home, some of Carter's friends stopped by and wanted him to go out with them again. So, Carter headed off. After about 30 minutes, I decided to go and make sure that they were doing OK. Let me just say, I may have creeped out some people in my area...I was slowly driving around in my truck trying to find him...so everytime I saw a group of kids, I would go real slow by them with me peering out the window. Yes, that night, I became THAT creepy guy prowling for kids. I did eventually find Carter again. Halloween is over.

The bestest movie ever!!

Who doesn't love Elizabeth Taylor? She seems to get better with age. She saw the new Michael Jackson movie but she was careful to not overhype it. Here are some of her thoughts:

"I was honored with the great privilege of seeing 'This Is It' last week. I was sworn to secrecy, but now I can let you know about it," she wrote. "It is the single most brilliant piece of filmmaking I have ever seen. It cements forever Michael's genius in every aspect of creativity."

She wasn't done there. "To say the man is a genius is an understatement. He cradles each note, coaxes the music to depths beyond reality," she tweeted. "You owe it to yourselves and your loved ones to see this again and again. Memorize it and say to yourselves, 'I saw genius in my lifetime.'" Taylor, who recently broke the news about a minor heart surgery on Twitter, said she wished her vocabulary "encompassed" what she felt. "If you listen to his lyrics, they are those of a modern-day prophet and it beseeches us to listen to him and what he sang," she wrote. "We must his take his words of responsibility seriously. We cannot let his life be in vain."

No offense, but does anyone really believe that this movie is better than Strange Brew, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and the Godfather? I believe that many people consider those 4 movies, the four best of all time, so it looks like we can add this to the top 5 collection.

the NBA and Mascots

NBA season starts tonight. I love basketball. Back in Washington DC, I would fall asleep to games at 1am nearly every night. This year will be interesting for Jazz fans to see how the team pulls together...around the league, we will get to see if Shaq can settle in with the Cavs, how good will Orlando be with all of their changes, can anyone stop the Lakers, etc.

To get you all pumped for the NBA season, I have a couple of videos...the first one is of the Houston Rockets mascot messing with fans and it is pretty funny (when you click play to start it, push pause and wait for about 15 seconds and then press play again):



And here is a video of mascot bloopers. Go Jazz.

Beautiful hair gone...but Metrosexy man remains

If you see me around town looking extra metrosexy, well, its because I have let my lovely wife cut my hair. Yes, there are some little issues with it--too close of a cut over the ears, a little uneven...and should we say something like "ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh...what have I done?...I wonder if that will show up...EEEEEEKKKKKK....oh no...thats not good...how do people do this?...why did it cut so much, why did it cut so much?" Yeah, she uttered all of those words. With all that said, man oh man, do I look good. Good work Bro.

On an entirely different subject--does anyone have a sharpie that is in dark, dark brown color?

Hosting a Party which would make me the Most unpopular guy in the Neighborhood

I can think of a lot of party ideas. Actually, I can think of a lot of bad party ideas. An adult Twister party? I would probably not get a lot of friends to come to that one. Dress up as your favorite Lords of the Ring party? Yeah, I would probably not get a lot of friends to come to that party.

But both of those ideas look genius compared to the having a Computer Operating System party. For those of you with a computer (A PC, not an Apple Computer), your current computer probably has Windows Vista or XP as its operating system. Well, Microsoft has come out with a new operating system, Windows 7. So Microsoft and its Ad agency came out with a perfect idea of having computer users host parties to introduce their friends to the new computer Operating System. Seriously. Not kidding.

The idea here is to invite your friends over to your house, make some snacks and sit around your computer and learn a new operating system. Yeah, how fun does that sound? To help us, Microsoft even did a video to show you how to host one of these parties. Once again, I'm being serious. (start the video and press pause for about 30 seconds and then watch so that it can run smoothly).

I can't wait to host my own party. It sounds like fun. Look for your invitations in the mail.

Sherlock Holmes and the Brutal Mormons

Here is a brand new post. You may have heard but there are the new Sherlock Holmes moviecoming out in the next few months...it stars Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. I am pretty interested in the movie as I love the Sherlock Holmes character and I think Downey can do a good job with it.

Growing up, I read a few of these novels and I decided to read the very first Sherlock Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You get to read the first time that Sherlock Holmes meets Dr. Watson (Dr. Watson was a doctor who just served in Afghanistan in the late 1800s and he was looking for a roommate and he was introduced to Holmes). You also learn that Holmes is very good at knowing people by just watching them for a minute. It is interesting to see their relationship develop.

This case centers around two murders in the London area. As they focus on suspects, the book then shifts to Salt Lake City, Utah. It goes into a story of man who was rescued by the Mormons as they were traveling across the country to find Utah. The man never becomes a mormon but is accepted by the mormons because he is a hardworker and he doesn't cause trouble. Trouble begins though when his daughter plans to marry a nonMormon. The book includes a visit by Brigham Young to the man's home where he orders the man to have his daughter marry a mormon. Basically, the mormons keep pressuring the girl and the father to follow their ways or suffer the consequences.

I don't want to give away the ending and the book...but it is interesting that such an iconic character such as Sherlock Holmes began his 'career' with mormons and their murderous ways. The book is over a 120 years old so it was quite an accomplishment for Sir Doyle to use London and early Salt Lake City as a backdrop to this first book. It is an entertaining read to see how it is all tied together and how justice is served.

Radio SuperStar

As some of you know, I graduated from Utah with a degree in Broadcast Journalism with a focus on Radio. I loved radio. I had my own 2-hour show up the University of Utah on their college station. I believe that at least 13 people would listen to my show every week (mainly family and probably some interns who were forced to listen to it). I also worked at KALL radio where I was an associate producer and fill-in producer for Chris Tunis. I loved finding him guests and putting together a show for him. I also served as the fill-in sports guy for KNEWS 570. I did that for about 6 months. I applied to be Tom Barberi's producer and it was down to me and this other girl for the position. She got it.

A few months later, I was offered an overnight talk show position and I accepted. I had my show from 12midnight till 4am. It was called the Sandman Hours. Brodi was on one of my shows as a guest...we had some absolutely crazy call ins...one guy called in and hated what I was saying so much and that he said that knew where the station was (we were upstairs at the Kinkos building on 33rd South 7th East) and he was coming in to 'talk' with me. He never came, but if he had, he would have received a severe tongue lashing. I spent nights talking about sports and current events. There are few things more glamorous than doing talk radio through the middle of the night. But I soon came to the conclusion that I was no longer interested in talking about Karl Malone wrestling or BYU football players breaking the honor code. My job didn't last long, and I realized it was time to move on.

So, why do I mention all of this? Well, last week, I was brought on to a national internet radio broadcast to talk about international business and the company that I work for...it was very cool. One hour to talk about the company and the obstacles of working in Pakistan. It was a last minute thing though, so I wasn't able to tell family and friends (and I know you were all crushed to not hear it). Lets just say that I was rusty, but it was cool. And let me just say--the audience was probably mesmerized by the exciting discussion. I also have a feeling that only about 9 people heard it, but I am sure that they will not forget it.

Utah Site: Delta Center and the Utah Jazz

Back in 1991, one of my best friends from high school, Jia Yn, took me to the first ever regular season game for the Jazz in this arena (they had just left the Salt Palace). I still remember it and the Jazz played the Seattle Sonics (don't ask about the results, it was a bad game for the Jazz). I can't believe that this stadium is nearly 20 years old. This arena cost $93 million and was built in record time, 16 months, to have it ready for the basketball season. Couple of interesting things--the roof weighs 3 million pounds. There are nearly 2,700 panels of insulated glass on the arena. The arena holds around 20,000 people. It is now called the Energy Solutions Arena, but I have always known it as the Delta Center and I refuse to call it by its new name.


I decided to take the boys downtown to see the Utah Jazz have their annual scrimmage. It was a good time. On the outside of the Delta Center, there are 2 huge action statues of Karl Malone and John Stockton. A nice little remembrance of those two and all of those years in SLC. Right when we entered the arena, I said to the boys to get ready to take some pictures...and the cheerleaders were right there and they came up and started talking to the boys. Too bad that the camera was on the wrong setting (darn that Becks and his playing with the camera) but we still got a shot with the boys and the ladies.

There were a couple of pretty cool things that we got to see while we were in the stands. They filmed a couple of commercials with us sitting there...so when you see the Jazz commercials at the start of the season, look really hard and you may see us in the background. We also got to see the Jazz players have a dance off to show who was the best rookie dancer. Kosta Kofous won that very prestigious award.

We left the inside of the arena and wandered down the halls. We found a staircase that was not being guarded and the boys and I headed up to the top floor. Great views and we went to the doors to sneak back into the arena until Carter said, 'I don't think we should be here, should we?' We wandered for a bit more and headed back downstairs.

A nice downtown late stroll back to the car and Carter made me promise that I would let him stay up late during the season to watch some games of the Jazz. I love this pic except Carter is giving one of his absolutely hillariously terrible 'camera smiles.' If you need to get the kids out this winter, a Jazz game is very entertaining even if the kids don't want to sit much as they can just wander the crowds and the hallways.

We just may have to move....

We love our neighborhood. Great families, great kids, great location. But there is something about this house (and yes, this is an actual active home listing right now) that is making me ready to move my family.

It has just about everything that you would want.

**A main house? Check

**A guest house? Check

**Privacy from the neighbors? Check.

**A feeling like you are living on the moon? Check...uh, what? Seriously?

This real estate purchase comes with 60 acres of lunar landscape views. It is also located midway between LA and Las Vegas. And for those that have made that drive--and I have made that drive about 15 times, there aint much between those two cities.






I can just see it--my boy Carter saying, 'Hey, can I go and play with my friend?' and me responding, 'Son, the only kids that live around here are about 45 miles to the South, go play with GI Joe figures.'

This could be all yours for only $750,000. Which isn't too bad when you consider you get two homes and 60 acres of land. Also, if you don't like door to door salesmen, this place could be ideal.

Utah site: Ensign Peak

I went to West High School and I played for the basketball team there. Our coach, for whatever reason, decided he wanted his players to be in shape (how crazy is that?), so every Summer/Fall before the season started, we would run and run and run. In our training, we would run down 3rd West, all the way to Beck Street, then run up Beck Street until you reached the capital, then we would run all the way up the hill to get to the starting point of Ensign Peak and then up to Ensign Peak and then all the way back down to West High. Lets just say, this was a good 6-8 mile jaunt which left many of us either puking or near puking. It was such a good run, that even former Jazzman Thurl Bailey used to run this with us.


Ensign Peak is where the Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young, as well as several other leaders of the early church joined together on the hike to the top...2 days after they arrived from their trek across the United States. Brigham Young, upon reaching the top, then proclaimed "Here is the proper place to raise our ensign to all the nations." This site gives you a view of the entire valley from East to West, North to South.

If you haven't been, it is in the neighborhood above the Capital (and a neighborhood where I spent a good deal of my high school years hanging out with some families up there). Very easy to find the hiking entrance as they have added a nice little area to start the hike. Let me just say--doing this hike is pretty simple and short and much easier than having already run several miles to get to this point.

I decided to take my boys up to Ensign Peak. The boys liked it quite a bit because it has fabulous views of the entire city. Roundtrip, the hike is only about 1.5 miles or so, so not too strenuous. Carter likes to get up the hill as fast as he can, while Beckham moves just a tiny bit faster than turtle...as he scans the landscape. There is also a nice little monument at the top to read and look at while admiring the views of the Valley.