The Fam Dam

Yahoo my family finally got the opportunity to come down to St. George and visit there youngest son (me)! It has been six weeks since I have last seen my parents and sister and my little niece and I must admit I have been missing them so much it heart! On Friday at around 9pm my mother and father along with my two new adopted sisters from Calcutta India arrived just in time to catch the tail end of my slack line club meeting (which I must say was a complete success because we got ten new members in one night we pretty much doubled our clubs size! I guess slack lining is cool after all)

 and they got to meet my new club buddies. They came for a brief visit and then headed off for fun in Vegas. My sister and I met up the next day and drove down to meet the parentals in Mesquite where we ate dinner at the retirement center. The food was decent but the whole time I was eating I imagined having no teeth and then I appreciated the softness of my food. That night we stayed in the worst hotel I had ever stayed in but at least we had each other’s company! The next day we had plans to get up early and go see the wonders of southern Utah but of course our door had to be broken locking my niece in the hotel room by her self for several hours delaying our trip. The stupid maintenance guys tried there little hearts out for over 30 minutes to break into our room to rescue our niece (it looked like a scene out of three stooges or a Charlie Chaplin short). Once we were done with that route we headed up to snow canyon where the robs and I climbed a really fun rout called “living on the edge.”

 I have got to give my dad mad props he climbed a 5-10C almost past half way!!! What a stud!!! That must be where I get my genes. After that we slipped into priesthood conference and heard some great speeches and concluded the night with a super awesome authentic Mexican restaurant that I ended up throwing up later that night. The next day I was dropped off at the dorms and said the goodbyes and my family left. Our little vacation was not long enough for me!

 The end.        

Let It Rain

When I went to my accounting class last Friday the last thing that was on my mind was making money, (ok maybe not the last thing) but some how I miraculously left my accounting class with ten dollars and a promise to go to the St George rodeo! My teacher and I have been having an ongoing conversations about breast cancer research and how important is to find a cure. I of course feel it is of up-most importance to save everything related to Hoohas and I made my point very clear to my accounting teacher.  So after that conversation he mentions to me that I need to go to the breast cancer rodeo, and I of course respond “I don’t think I have to funds to allocate to that specific t account at this time”

he said that’s ok “I will donate ten dollars and you can credit Owners Equity for an investment”

I said, “Hell if there are no notes payable than steers and queers hear I come!!!” To be honest I don’t actually think there is anything gay about rodeos I just think the Texans in them are a little fruity (Rob Cowart reference ;P jk).

So I call up a cute little girl named Syd that I believed would make any event exciting even if that event were snail racing (bad example because snail racing would be pretty kick ass!).

If there is one reason for loving rodeos I has to be the fact that I get to wear a cowboy hat!!! And damn do I look good in a cowboy hat; especially if it is a custom made J.W. gifted to me by my beloved father.
After haggling a time to depart on our rodeo adventure I picked up my date at six thirty and headed towards bull hay-ven (yup lame joke)…We made it into the rodeo without much of fuss (I did have to gun a man down with my two finger revolver for looking at me the wrong way…. POW!!!) We arrived a little bit too early; there is nothing worse on a date than arriving early we still had an hour and half till the rodeo actually started, and to help matters out she wasn’t hungry. What I wouldn’t of given for that forced awkward chewing that that only food can bring, it lets a man find his conversational center. But never fear my motor mouth came through in full stride and before you know it the rodeo begins with the thunder of hoofs. Unfortunately the thunder was more from the sky than that of large animal hoofs, and a windy rainy storm rolled in.

A man of great awareness always takes advantage of the circumstances nature provides him. And for me during that cold rainstorm I pulled the classic arm around the shoulder to keep my date worm trick J, works every time!!!!(Although a little juvenile I still feel that move gives me that much needed sense of victory) so after nature gave us enough of a battering we went to go get ice-cream which is what everyone is supposed to do on cold rainy days… and then we headed back to the apartment where we were broken up by a self mandated curfew that my date made up L 

the end

Entrepreneur

Today was one of those days that changes you. Nothing miraculous happened today but the thought processes in my mind were particularly exhilarating. In English today we went to the library and learned about the cool database system that the school has provided the students with. I think I was the only one who was supper excited about all of the knowledge that the school has provided for me on the Internet. Dixie state college has bought expensive licenses to hundreds of databases, which contain e-books, article, and periodicals for all enrolled students. Scrolling through thousands of Google results looking for an accurate qualified source is the thing of the past. Dixie has paid thousands of dollars for the user rights for me to find the premium recourses on whatever I want. They did this in the hopes that I would learn how to read and cite scholarly papers in my college courses. But I have a different plan for this knowledge. I have access to thousands of business plans of successful companies and books on Entrepreneurship. It is now that I will start planning my future, and my plan will not be under researched and shaky! I had a lengthy conversation with the head of the DEX marketing club today and we feel it is our duty to create a college venture unlike anything Dixie College has ever seen. We have several ideas that seem to be profitable but the next step is logistics. I am accumulating research on successful businesses like the ones we are going to start, and using all of the business structure guides to come up with plausible business plans. I am having so much fun learning about business I can hardly stand it!!!! If only every teacher knew that dangling money in front of a student really does bring out the ambitious leaner!!!!!!

Learning to control myself

         I need to learn forgiveness. Not just the post-incident forgiveness, but also the continual forgiveness. I have a bad problem of not forgiving people who have technically not done anything yet. I judge and assess their personality and predict what they might do in the future to offend me, and become upset over nothing. In my film class we got to see the cameras that we will be getting to use this year. And our professor Phil Tucket had asked the camera care taker to tell us a little bit about the camera’s, and the moment he opened his mouth I thought he was talking down to me. It was at that moment that I started to get upset. I imagined in the future that I would have to rent a camera from this guy and he would look down on my and ask if I am worthy of the camera’s. Now the funny thing about this situation is, he made no direct comment at me nor even glanced in my direction. What is it about my personality that needs people to look up to me? Talk up to me? and never speak to me as if I know less than them. So hear is my solution from now on if anyone gets on my nerves before I even get to know them I am going to make it a point and go up and talk to them and be my best self possible!

            I spent my entire high school career avoiding dating because I assumed there would be girls more my type once I made it into college. Now that I am hear I see plenty of girls that are attractive, but I have yet to talk to any girl that makes me think that I could change the world with that woman. I fell like I am being unfair to the opposite sex however. I want a girl that will try to change the world but I myself can’t get up the discipline to get a job! Or figure out accounting!! I dream of big things but I am living a small life, and that is no way to live ones life. All of this week I have procrastinated my homework wile watching a meaningless T.V show (“the avatar,” which is really entertaining by the way! And I am so glad that Ang and Katara finally hooked up). I have dreams of being a heartless businessman that is cunning and ruthless in the ways he solves his problems, yet I intentionally avoid learning the skills necessary to fulfill this dream. Well I now decree that this old me comes to an end! And the me I have always wanted to be starts now! Scary business man hear I come!!!!!!  

A surprise visit from a zealous rock climber

Weekends are a peculiar thing; they come and go but each one is desperately awaited. This week I found myself unusually exited for the weekend but not for any particular reason. I planed on doing what I have been doing for the past couple of weekends eating a little more food than necessary, climbing at the rock-climbing wall on campus, and watching television. Somewhere between all of those very fastidious activities I had planned on squeezing in some homework. But alas one simple phone call changes all of those little plans in a moment! And instead of sitting at home pretending not to be board I have to actually have fun. If had only known my weekend would have entailed a Geisha knife fight, a sumo wrester, a cloud walker, and the ultimate 2 finger wushu. Skadush! 

A good tiding of comfort and joy for Luke Baird comes to visit his baby brother (me) in St. George. And he comes bearing gifts? Yes a microwave (that used to belong to homeless man that lived in my parents garage), cloths (that were forgotten by myself in random parts of the country…), a camera (which was commandeered by my mother, who gracefully returned it back to my ownership) and last but not least a peculiar medallion (which I am sure will have many mentioning’s in future blogs!). But of course the greatest gift of all was my brother Luke! He had taken the time out of his overly busy schedule to drive from Salt Lake to St. George for a surprise rock-climbing trip with his little bro.

Rock-climbing book in hand Luke had already deliberated all of the possibilities that St. George has to offer! 

 having arrived at 7:00 PM the day was pretty much used up as far as outdoor climbing is concerned. However the great campus of Dixie State Collage (of which I am a student) has provide a rock-climbing gym for all of its loyal subjects. I took Luke to this wall and he showed the same amount of excitement as I!!! It’s sad to me how few of the students at Dixie College appreciate the gift that has been given to them, for I rarely see anyone using the climbing wall. Luke and I climbed as many routs as we could handle while planning the weekends adventures. Luke also taught me the proper way to set up a bouldering route. If we had known what was awaiting us we would not have exerted so much energy before our adventure.

The next morning with our gear packed we head off for our fist rock climbing destination Snow Canyon.

 Luke shows off to the world by climbing a 30ft 5.8 without any gear. After these miraculous feet we decide to press on to bigger and better challenges, and legend tells of wall so great that it can only bear the name Sumo! 

 or it bears the name sumo because of its uncanny resemblance to a sumo wrestler… but I am pretty sure that legend does tell of a climbing route so intimidating that it can only be called a “Geisha Knife Fight.” This rout entails razor sharp rocks and intimidating overhanging maneuvers. 

The moves themselves were not that intimidating, but the idea of falling onto those knife like rocks and speckling your shirt with blood was enough to make any climber weary. But before you could even climb this epic route you had to get there… and that’s where my car the Samurai Suzuki comes in handy.

there is an extreme off-roading path that we assumed was safe… I was as scared as a hooker in church, and that trail was a little too much for my poor car :( 

After we got our buts kicked by the Geisha Knife Fight as well as the trail to get there we thought about controlling our ambitions and finding a new playground. So we head up towards the desert turtles playground (BLM Turtle study area on the Arizona boarder) and found the black and tan wall. Well Luke and I don’t read good, and in hopes of doing a simple 5.10a climb we ended up doing a climb that isn’t even mentioned in the book. We didn’t even get up half of the wall!!! It must have been a way tough new route. And there were mountain goats mocking us across the canyon. 

The sun was so we set up camp ate mac and cheese while staring into the blazing fire. And when the fire was simmered down the stars lit up brighter than I have ever seen.

The following day we decided to give the book another look and try and find the route we actually set out to climb. It turned out that we were just one route off and we (luke) quickly scampered the route and then let me have a go at it. 

Having our egos boosted after such a dismal weekend we decide to give the mystery route a go. This time with the proper amount of determination we make it past half way. In order finish this route you would have to use a tiny hole in the rock where only two fingers would fit and lift your entire body to the next handhold. And thus I gave this route the name the Two Finger Wushu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32InXIKwy_8 . 

We never did finish this route even with our fiery determination. So we packed up and headed home with our tails between our legs. And while we are on our way out we spot a hitchhiker in the middle of the desert twenty miles from any civilization. Curiosity peaked and I had to stop and pick the man up so I could hear his story (and snag a secret picture).

Being lied to is something I actually prefer especially with strangers, because the truth makes you responsible. And I am 100% sure that this man was lying. his story goes something like this “I was out with his mom when we got separated and i wondered the desert for two days.” First of all what mother would leave their son in the desert for two days without looking for him. Second he said, “She took his car home” how did she know where his car was but not him. And third just look at the guy! 

 I am sure he was hyped up on drugs and wandered off into the desert or is fleeing the law! I think I might have even abetted a criminal this weekend!!! How cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother Luke is the best if it were not for him I would have never had a knife fight, learned the two finger wushu, or abetted a criminal! 

     

True colors

Funny rules of a pretend obsessive-compulsive disorder. As my alarm goes off to the great sounds of Cyndi Lopper’s girls just want to have fun I find myself already awake. Why is it that whenever a good song plays on the radio I am always awake to hear it? I think this trait might be apart of the obsessive-compulsive rules that I am beginning to create for myself. Along with folding my towels edge exactly three times on edge before I hang them on the hook. Turning the soap dispenser a quarter of the way around every time I use it so I know I have used the proper amount of hand soap each day. While doing a myriad of other corky habits I always hum "I believe in a thing called love" by the Darkness, I feal it keeps the tempo of my morning rituals. What I can’t understand is why I have no compulsion to make my bed or clean the dishes out of the sink? Checking my calendar to see if any homework is doe, or trying to find a job are not things of compulsion for me. Why is that? I guess I am just a college slacker.

            My English teacher is hot. I find this to be a problem. But at the same time I have never given so much attention to proper MLA citation in my entire life. I now feel like I can finally give proper credit to the people who don’t even know I exist. When she gives us in class work I keep on pretending to get things wrong so she will come and help me with my assignments. It is very possible that pretending to not understand actually leads to me not understanding. I guess I have a conundrum.

            I find it hard to explain to others “what i want to be when i grow up?” It seems that most of the people here at Dixie have such simple answers to this question “I want to be a dental hygienist” or “I want to be an elementary teacher” or “I want to be rich.” I wish I could say my future career to other people in one sentence!  The question “what I want to be when I grow up?” is non-applicable to me. The question that should be asked is not what but who do I want to be. I want to be that person who makes a large impact in this world. What I do to make that impact is of little importance.     

The First

being a man of lazy nature, and not usually willing to bear my feelings i find i hard to write a journal even to myself. i guess i have a fear that the journal might not be good enough to be read, or even worse that i might not be living a life of noteworthy importance. this i guess is a petty insecurity that i will have to face sooner or later. hell why not face ones insecurities on a blog! I being a citizen of our modern world am privy to the word vomiting of writers on the internet masses (BLOGGERS), and find that this practice might be beneficial to my nausea (repressed rhetoric).