Taste like cardboard

The Caped Many Enters The Ring

2008-08-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are at a Sting concert in Arkansas (Peter Gabriel, Jim Carry & some other famous person are there too). Its kinda more like a circus. Anyway, we were enjoying the concert and got invited to sit in this cool cool/weird room and hang out. I was asked to, at the end of the concert, run around it a cape collecting items of clothing and such that had been scattered around the stage during the concert. Kind of like a grand finally. My manager from Coldwell Banker was there and convinced me it was a good idea to do this. As I left the room and kinda walked around the place that the concert was at, I realized I really didn’t want to do this. I found the manager of the concert and told him that I didn’t want to do the cape thing. He was upset because he’d given My wife and me a nice meal and a room to hang out in and the concert was almost over. I told him no a little more forcefully and told him he’d find someone else willing to do the cape thing.

Then My wife and I where hanging out with some friends at a café’.

Anniversary Ideas

2008-07-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

Idea One From July 3rd, 2008:

fwiw, if you call a florist local to there, they'll put the flowers in your room
Hmmm
Thats an idea
it's good to hide the roses IN the bed, so there's a surprise... poison ivy works well too
Sent at 8:16 AM on Thursday
Ha!
make a memory
mnemonic devices:
#1: smell
#2: pain
oh! open tuna cans in the room before hand
and boil broccoli
And eat a lot of asparagus and cabbage
it'll smell like a whale farted in there
she'll never forget it
Awesome
Sent at 8:19 AM on Thursday
We should do a blog about stuff like this
you have a blog - you could just copy and paste this there
We might set up a blog on our website if we can get our web master to do something,
Ha!

Celebrating our 5th anniversary in San Francisco

2007-07-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Last week Susanne and I went to San Francisco to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. San Francisco is a beautiful city. There is so much to see, do and eat there. We where there 4 days and didn't eat the same style of food twice (except for Italian, we had it twice while we where there).

There are so many different cultures represented in San Francisco. We live in whiteville USA. Utah is known for its blond hair blue eyed people. It was nice to be away from that for a bit. Susanne and I where the minority most everywhere we went.

We saw the play Assassins while we where there. It was put on by a small acting team. They did a very good job. I'm glad we stopped to see it.

We got to see many musicians while we where there, although many of them had little or no talent. Here is some video I shot of a couple musicians we saw there. I'll let you decide who had the talent and who well...bless they're heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUF3TVP5nb0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhPMFtdhpNs

We also got to visit Alcatraz. It was interesting to see the place I've heard so much about. I learned so much about the history of "The Rock". We took the night tour. It was wild being there at night. It would have been more spooky if there hadn't been 50 other people there with us.

Our hotel was built early in the 20th century and was restored recently. It was cool to stay in a place that had been around for that long. We had a nice room for the hotel. At night we could hear outside really well. The city didn't quiet down until about 3 or 4am.

Chinatown was neat. It was interesting to see such a large subculture. There where many stores that had roughly the same items for sale, but we did find a tea house that gave out free tea samples. Customers sat at a long bar and where served small samples of several teas. We bought 1/4 pound of lychee tea there for $12.50. They're very proud of their tea. It is sweet even without sugar.

We saw outlines of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog was really heavy around the bridge. We walked up it a little, but didn't go far.
The temperature was so great there! We had to wear our jackets some days. We had so much energy there! We're use to being 4500ft - 5000ft above sea level, so being at sea level gave us a lot more oxygen.

I recommend going to San Francisco some time. It's a neat, friendly city.

Work Work Work Work Work Work Work

2007-07-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

I recently started a job as Marketing Specialist at my office. I'm still in real estate, but I get a steady paycheck rather than commission only. I love designing marketing tools for agents. Fun stuff.

Much Better Now

2007-04-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well, as you've probably guessed, I am feeling much better now. I had surgery to repair my broken cheekbone and the rest of my injuries have healed. The neurologist I saw, however, diagnosed me with mild epilepsy. I am now on medication for this.

I had it as a kid, but was told it would go away as an adult. I guess its still here.
The medication is giving me insomnia and a little confusion, but should resolve soon.

Sunrise Service

2007-04-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

In Salt Lake City, there is an Easter tradition among Christians. We do a sunrise service on top of Lone Peak (a mountain in the Wasatch mountain range).

Susanne and I went this year. COLD doesn't begin to describe it. We were at Snow Bird which is a ski resort on top of the mountain. We got there around 6am and took the tram up to the top of the mountain. We were already cold where we parked, but when we got to the top, it was torture.

A blizzard mixed with fog masked the sun. It went from dark to a blueish/grey. We stood out in the elements for about an hour, waiting for the "sound guy" to get the correct cable to plug the PA in.

The snow was wet snow. We where all soaked and shivering. There was one fire for everyone to get warmed by. It was the size of a modest campfire; seven or 8 people could get somewhat toasty at a time.

People had their children with them, their babies! Crying and the phrase "I wanna go home" covered the mountain top and filled my mind. I wanted my warm bed.

There where 500+ people there. Some with a mad passion to be a part of anything that had even a hint of Christianity to it. Some where there for the free tram ride to the top of the mountain. We where there for the experience and to see the sunrise from a mountain top. Woop te doo.

Something to reflect on

2007-03-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

"I really only love God as much as the person I love the least."

-Dorothy Day(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day)

I read this quote several days ago and I can't shake it. I'll let you guys think about it too.

Cement Faceplant

2007-02-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

You know how, when you faint, you don't want to be climbing stairs at the time. I guess I forgot about that.
Have you ever woken up and and wondered how you got where your at? I did that on Thursday morning.
I fainted on our deck stairs and fell. I landed on my face. I don't really remember how I was laying, but I know I was face down on a cement slab.

My ear was the only place I bled a lot. The rest was just minor scrapes. I did, however, break several bones in my face. I cracked my right sinus area in 3 places; I broke my cheekbone, its now setting askew. I also have a hairline crack in my lower orbit (where my eye sits).

If you've got fainting on your list of things to do, I recommend you do it on a flat surface. Fainting in bed would be perfect. I also recommend you plan your fainting much better than I did. I could have at least placed a pillow on the cement landing I stopped at.

New Vaccuum

2007-01-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

We recently purchased a new vacuum. This is an item that is purchased only a hand full of times by the average citizen. There are brands of vacuums that are more common than others and brands that people say are good, but nobody I know or know of speaks highly or critically of their vacuums; Nothing is said about this common household item.

We did, however, speak to a older sales woman at Kohls who vacuums her house three to 4 times a week. She showed us the vacuum she owns that was for sale at Kohls and she said she liked it, but couldn't exactly tell us why. She was crazy.

We then spoke to a newly married couple who were thinking about trading in the vacuum they received for a wedding gift for the same model vacuum her parents owned. They spoke highly of the vacuum we chose. One of their friends or family had the same model and liked it a lot.

On the way out of Kohls, received complements for choosing the vacuum we bought by a couple who was entering the store. They had also purchased the same model sometime back and loved it.

I guess I'm saying that if you want to hear about vacuums or are shopping around for one, go to the area of a store that sells them and wait for someone else to come along who is shopping for a vacuum as well. Ask them about a brand or style of vacuum and listen for the confusion they experience while surveying all the vacuum to choose from. They might also have a story about which vacuum is better because their parents or someone they know has that vacuum.

You'll meet some interesting people in the vacuum department.

We chose the Hoover EmPower: http://www.hoover.com/db/xq/asp.U5269900/prodid.228/SubID.1/ModID.1925/qx/HooverEmPower.htm
It seems to do really well and has all the attachments we wanted.

While you're in the vacuum department, listen for vacuum jokes. Like:
If it sucks we will take it back
I hope it doesn't blow
This sucks!

Anything having the words suck or blow are common. We heard them all. I even made a vacuum joke. Maybe that why I just looked at the last guy who made a vacuum joke as we were walking out of the store. The same guy who owned the model we just purchased. I didn't even give him a courtesy laugh. I guess he will get over it.

Making Plans

2007-01-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas never ends in our home. I love the time we get with family and friends during the actual Christmas season, but as I said before, it never ends in our home. We are now planning next Christmas. We plan on having all of Susanne's family at our home over Christmas (this includes our new niece or nephew-that's right, a surprise Heriford baby!).

We are planning which room will be assigned to which family member and what dishes we will be serving while they are here. We are also working on where the tree will be placed and how big of a tree we can get; we're thinking maybe a 10' tree will be nice.

Skiing will be the main draw for all the family to want to visit. They love us, but Utah is a long way from any of them, so their love for us + the probability of getting onto the slopes seals the deal.

We will be completing our basement soon by building 2 more bedrooms. This will give us 6 bedrooms total and room for all the family to stay with us. (This will also give us plenty of room for any of you guys to visit if you're ever in the mood to travel 1000mi to Utah.)

Is this too much planning, too soon?

O well, if it works out, it works out.

Visiting Friends and Family

2007-01-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed our trip to Texas for Christmas. Its great to see people you love that live far away. There's something about not seeing someone for a long time that makes you appreciate the time you get to spend with them. People I use to see all the time are now the ones I visit once a year. People change so much in a year's time.
Some have lost weight, some have gained it.
Some have moved and some have moved on.
New children have arrived and old children have gone.

I look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Practical Joke

2006-11-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

I recently found this on my front lawn. It was placed there by a fellow Realtor. The sign on front says "FOR SALE. Take me home. Sit on me and Love me for $25 o.b.o". I think it’s really funny. I gave the couch away. I, however, need some ideas on retaliation. If you have any, please let me know.

Go Go Gadget Cloak

2006-10-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sure, there are some pretty cool military applications to this new technology (see artical at bottom), but what can the average person do with it.

I envision cloak clothing. In 10 or so years, we will all be wearing these. All you will see are heads bobbing along in mid air. Maybe cloak makeup for ugly people. Halloween will be fun in completely cloaked suits.

Maybe there will be cloaked houses. You could have flawless views from inside your home because all the houses around you are cloaked.

Anyone else have as weird of an imagination as me?

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - A team of American and British researchers has o made a Cloak of Invisibility. Well, OK, it's not perfect. Yet. But it's a start, and it did a pretty good job of hiding a copper cylinder.
In this experiment the scientists used microwaves to try and detect the cylinder. Like light and radar waves, microwaves bounce off objects making them visible and creating a shadow, though it has to be detected with instruments.
If you can hide something from microwaves, you can hide it from radar — a possibility that will fascinate the military.
Cloaking differs from stealth technology, which doesn't make an aircraft invisible but reduces the cross-section available to radar, making it hard to track. Cloaking simply passes the radar or other waves around the object as if it weren't there, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream.
The new work points the way for an improved version that could hide people and objects from visible light.
Conceptually, the chance of adapting the concept to visible light is good, cloak designer David Schurig said in a telephone interview.
But Schurig, a research associate in Duke University's electrical and computer engineering department, added, "From an engineering point of view it is very challenging."
Nonetheless, the cloaking of a cylinder from microwaves comes just five months after Schurig and colleagues published their theory that it should be possible.
Their first success is reported in a paper in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
"We did this work very quickly ... and that led to a cloak that is not optimal," said co-author David R. Smith, also of Duke. "We know how to make a much better one."
The first working cloak was in only two dimensions and did cast a small shadow, Smith acknowledged. The next step is to go for three dimensions and to eliminate any shadow.
Viewers can see things because objects scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye.
"The cloak reduces both an object's reflection and its shadow, either of which would enable its detection," said Smith.
In effect the device, made of metamaterials — engineered mixtures of metal and circuit board materials, which could include ceramic, Teflon or fiber composite materials — channels the microwaves around the object being hidden.
When water flows around a rock, Smith explained, the water recombines after it passes the rock and people looking at the water downstream would never know it had passed a rock.
The cloaking has to be designed for specific bandwidths of radiation.
In this case it's microwaves, and someone measuring them wouldn't be able to tell they had passed around an object. The hope is to do the same for light waves.
Looking at a cloaked item, Smith explained: "One would see whatever is behind the cloak. That is, the cloak is, ideally, transparent. Since we do not have a perfect cloak at this point, there is some reflection and some shadow, meaning that the background would still be visible just darkened somewhat.
The ideal cloak would have nearly negligible reflection and virtually no shadowing, Smith said. "This first experiment has provided a confirmation that the mechanism of cloaking can be realized, we now just need to improve the performance of cloaking structures."
In addition to hiding things, redirecting electromagnetic waves could prove useful in protecting sensitive electronics from harmful radiation, Smith commented.
In a very speculative application, he added, "one could imagine 'cloaking' acoustic waves, so as to shield a region from vibration or seismic activity."
Natalia M. Litchinitser, a researcher at the University of Michigan department of electrical engineering and computer science, said this appears to be the "first, to the best of my knowledge, experimental realization of the fascinating idea of cloaking based on metamaterials at microwave frequencies."
"Although the invisibility reported in this paper is not perfect, this work provides a proof-of-principle demonstration of the possibility," said Litchinitser, who was not part of the research team.
She added that the next breakthrough is likely to be an experimental demonstration of the cloaking in visible light. "These ideas represent a first step toward the development of functional materials for a wide spectrum of civil and military applications."
Joining Schurig and Smith in the work were researchers at Imperial College in London and SensorMetrix, a materials and technology company in San Diego, Calif.
The research was supported by the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program and the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Out Of Shape

2006-10-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

For most of my life I've been in good physical shape. Today I can say, "no longer". I am now sore from raking the lawn. It’s my legs; they cry a lot more now. I have no excuse either. I live in a State that has more opportunities for physical activity than most parts of the country. I spent most of the past few months either eating, sleeping, or working in our basement. I, of course, have been doing real estate, but I don't get much exercise selling houses.

My blood pressure has also gotten high enough that I need medication to keep it normal. This is more genetic that anything, but it would be lower if I did more exercise.

I'm not yet overweight or anything, but I do miss being in good shape. Maybe the fact that I'm now 33 affects me too, but that's an easy excuse.

I-8 K-9 Project

2006-10-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

I found this on my email. I made it a few years ago, back when I was funny.

Coffee Shop Nuisance

2006-10-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

I often spend an hour reading at my favorite coffee house prior to picking my wife up from her office. Most of the time its quiet except for music playing in the background. Yesterday, however, my silence -and I guess everyone else's silence- was interrupted by an older gentlemen talking on his cell phone.

The conversation was already in progress when he and a trapped coworker entered. The coworker sat silently as the conversation carried on. (5 - 10 -15 - 20) The minutes pass with no silence except for the few moments when the other party in this conversation got to speak. I can only assume that there was another party involved.

The conversation consisted of health issues, politics, taxes, and maybe something about investments; each topic weaving its way throughout the conversation.

The gentleman with him sat quietly, nursing his late and listening patiently to his buddy’s bla bla bla.

The conversation ended and I'm sure that I wasn't the only one in the place to do a happy jig inside to hear the cell phone click as it closed. I got to get relief from this nuisance just before time to leave and get my wife from her office. Sadly, as I left, the cell phone talker began talking to his patience buddy about the conversation he was just engaged in.

If I ever do that to you, feel free to get up and leave or just move to another table.

I thought about putting this blog in the Restaurant conversations post, but I decided to give it its own due to the absence of food and the lack of one participating member in the conversation.

Bad Realtor

2006-09-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Fiduciary duty.

This term refers to the responsibility an agent has to their client. A Realtor is to always have their clients best interest in mind. This includes not disclosing certain bits of information to other agents about their clients.

I recently received an offer from a fellow Realtor on a property I'm representing. This agent called me and stated the following (paraphrased):

"I'm faxing you an offer. This isn't the best they can do, so feel free to counter higher. They really want this house!"

After countering their offer, I received another counter offer from them. This time the agent says:

"I really want them to get this house, so lets try and work this out. Go ahead and counter on this offer."

If you find that your Realtor has compromised your interest by disclosing vital info, get rid of them immediately.

As a Realtor, let me apologies for all of you who have had bad experiences with Realtors. Not all Realtors are stupid or crooked. Find a Realtor you trust.

Did I mention that the Realtor mentioned above is representing family....

Restaurant Conversations

2006-09-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

We were eating out on Monday night and overheard the following conversation (paraphrased):

"bla bla bla...Conspiracy in the 2000 election is why Gore lost."
"bla bla bla...Republican house and senate is a sign that our democracy is falling apart."
"bla bla bla...Kennedy assassination conspiracy."
"bla bla bla...Nixon."

This conversation has inspired me to write a book called, "Restaurant Conversations", or something like that.

Let me know if you have heard or if you hear any conversations while eating out that you think are book worthy.

Give me the restaurant name and maybe a title for the conversation.

Flashback Room

2006-08-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Our house has 4 bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms are guest rooms. We rarely spend time in them, except for one which we iron in. Lately, as I exit the ironing room, I've had flashbacks to my grandparents house. As I exit the room, the room to the right of it seems like a room in my grandparents house. In my mind, I expect to see the room as it was in my grandparents house. This is already strange, but what makes it more strange is that they move from their house in 1997 and have since died. I'm not suggesting anything like ghost or crazy stuff like that, just a weird occurrence.

Wild. As I was uploading the picture of the room that reminds me of my grandparents room, I noticed something. The stuffed bear that is on the right side of the futon use to be in the room at my grandparents house that I am now having flashbacks about. Wow, that's messed up.

Anyone ever had something like this occur? (This is also an opportunity to make up an amusing anecdote.)

Rancid Mortar

2006-08-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in Alexthelesser's blogg, we are putting a bathroom in our basement. We put tile down on Sunday afternoon. This was an uneventful, successful event except for one thing; two+ year old chocolate milk.

The previous owners of our home left 3 5 gallon paint buckets in our garage. We didn't think much about them as they stayed in the corner until yesterday afternoon. I needed a 5 gallon bucket to mix mortar in, so I chose to use one of the buckets left behind. I chose the lightest bucket we had.

The lid was still holding tight to the top of the bucket so I began to remove it. Each slight pop of the plastic top being remove was a warning sign that this top shouldn't be removed.

At last, it opened.

"Good Night in the Morning!" to quote my friend April. The stench was unbearable. This bucket had been sealed for at least 2 years. It sealed in a container of expired chocolate milk that had been cooked in the summer and chilled in the winter, 3 fold.

I emptied the contents of the bucket into our trash can and washed the bucket with soap. No use, it smells! I used the bucket to mix our mortar. Our mortar smells. I hope it has dried and the stink has gone, but if you happen to be lucky enough to use our new bathroom and you notice an odd smell, its probably our stinky mortar.

Aliens

2006-07-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

So last night I had an interesting dream. It involved aliens and being in a hospital. I was in this hospital...Let me back up.

I first dreamt that I was in a Rocky horror Picture Show setting just before they song "Lets do the Time Warp Again" started playing. I wasn't really taking part in this part of the dream, just observing. This transvestite guy would throw t-shirt material at guys and sexy lingerie would appear under their cloths, so you couldn't really see it, but the guys didn't like it.

After this, my dream went to me interacting with octopus like aliens who lived really far away from earth. The could take the form of humans when necessary. I talked with them a while and then they sent me back to earth where I woke up in a hospital. When I awoke in the hospital, I had this strange gadget that was like a pair of goggles over my eyes. It had a computer-like display with a blue dot that moved like the display on a heart monitor. This device was how the aliens sent be back to earth.

The device was removed and was examined by doctors who concluded that it was alien in nature. After the device was removed, I found that if I concentrate really hard I could send myself back to the aliens. It was difficult to do, but I succeeded a few times. When I went back to the aliens, I would disappear from earth.

I suppose that I was in the hospital for some kind of surgery. I remember thinking while on the operating table that I could go back the the aliens if I wanted.

The dream altered a bit. I was now in a city. I was with the aliens in this city. They were now in human form. I remember telling my wife in this dream about the aliens, but she wasn't believing me. I wanted her to see the aliens so I had the aliens walk to an empty ally with me along with my wife. I said something like "Ok, show her." The transformed back into their octopus-like form and my wife then believed.

When I woke up this morning, I tried to concentrate and go back to the aliens, but it didn't work. Strange how some dreams are so real that you cant separate them from reality after waking up. Even now, I want to see if I can concentrate hard enough to go back to the ali.....