MuteMath > Las Vegas

On October 13th MuteMath (a band which probably few if any of you know) came to Las Vegas, NV, the closest to Provo, UT they would get on their tour. True to form, Scott, his friend Chris, Ryan and I recklessly intercepted them that night, arriving around 6:00pm and leaving about 11:00pm. I left that experience with two radically different truths:
1. I hate Las Vegas. Three reasons:
- Fake Roman architecture.
- Being offered fliers for strip clubs on every corner.
- Working through drunk crowds.
2. I love MuteMath. Three reasons:
- Real (awesome) music.
- They didn't strip. Or even swear.
- They worked the crowd:


And yes, that is the drummer crowd-surfing on top of his tom drum (and yes, that is video from my phone - no cameras were allowed). I failed to get video of the frontman doing hand stands and back flips over his keyboard. Or the bassist playing an upright bass. Or the drummer playing with three sticks in each hand. Or the psychedelic jam sessions. It was, without a doubt, the awesomest, most triumphant show I have ever seen.

And that includes Radiohead.

Not Cool, Bee-Dude, Not Cool

So I'm sitting here in my apartment calling around to find out tire pricing at different places. Suddenly, as the guy from Big-O answers the phone, I feel a sharp sting on the back of my neck. A freaking hornet stung me! Jerkface!!! What did I do to merit such hatred?! I swiftly administered justice with a shoe while trying to convey my need for 175 65-14R tires. I'm ticked right now! Nobody stings me in my apartment!

When Your Best Just Isn't Good Enough

So! My first experience trying to get a real job (translation: internship) with ExxonMobil has failed. Not even an interview. But that's ok. I learned how to make a sweet looking resume, that job fairs require fancy shoes and pants, and that its good to suck up to recruiters. And that I actually have to get good grades (suck!). Anyways, the rest of the companies are coming next week. And I shall have my pretty shoes ready.

No Trespassing Part II

So! Back in June I was bummed because I found some sweet biking trails close to home only to find a no trespassing sign.
Yeah. Not a problem anymore.

There are plenty of trails. And plenty of ways to come perilously close to death.

Once Upon A Time

Sam and some of his friends went to Moab for the 4th of July. Sam's friends took most of the pictures because they had expensive cameras. Then three months later Sam finally obtained copies of them so that he could show how much fun they had.


Our Friday night campsite. Girls blowing flowers.

Arches National Park. Hence, the arches.

More red rock.

The backs of people.

Our team mascot.

All of us except Marci.

Boringest Blog Ever

That's what I think about my blog right now. I promise this will change, as I have some pictures to share.

You Mean the Shoes?

No, hush puppies are a southern delicacy. Corn meal, flour, eggs, buttermilk, and some other ingredients, mixed together and then deep fried in little balls. Best served with east Carolina barbeque and cole slaw. And with an assistant spooning them out of the oil as fast as I threw them in, I made a whole slew of them for our southern food picnic today. Behold my culinary awesomness!

Prophecy Fulfilled

So! Someone once told me that everyone at one point in their auto mechanic career manages to commit a particular mistake while changing their oil. Today, outside my apartment, with the Fit leaning on the curb to allow greater accessibility, I confess I committed that mistake. It became apparent when I saw a pool of black oil collecting in the gutter at the same time I was putting the last quart in. Yes, that's right folks, I forgot to put the bolt back in.

EPIC

This is Mount Nebo. Conquered. Ryan and I started our trip about 7:30 Friday night. We hiked about two hours or so with good light, and then proceeded to conquer on by flashlight, crossing treacherous snow fields, losing the trail, finding it again, and finally setting up camp and eating dinner at about 11:30 on a ridge at 9,500 feet. Pictures 6 and 7 demonstrate the view from my sleeping bag at about 6:05 the following morning. Then we hiked three miles to the south summit without packs and returned home. Epic.

In Case You Missed It...

Classes are over. Done. Last exam was Thursday. Now I'm taking my first break from scholastic endeavor since last September, and I feel entirely un-guilty. Now, the guilt from not getting A's in my classes this semester... well we'll just have to blame work and partying. I still believe my priorities are in the right place...

So! I've been telling people that I'm in the Mechanical Engineering program, but that technically wasn't true until Friday when this came in the mail:

I'd say something about my supreme awesomeness, but fortunately about 85% of applicants make it in, sooooo....

No Trespassing

Went running today. In the rain. Randomly found some sweet foothill trails within half a mile of home. Got really excited about them, decided to get a mountain bike. Was formulating a training regimen that included trail riding at 7am. Whole life plan was solidifying. Everything seemed right with the world. Then I came across something that looked like this:

My heart sank. Maybe I'll get a road bike after all...

May 31, 2009

Today is May 31. Which means that exactly three years ago on a Wednesday at 12:00 I entered the MTC. Which means that almost exactly one year ago I came home. Curiously enough, I think this date has much more signifcance to me in terms of self-evaluation, goal setting and introspection than my Birthday, Christmas, New Years, and Halloween.
And don't worry, this isn't a why-are-you-not-married crisis. It is, however, a how-is-your-scripture-study-now crisis and a have-you-done-anything-useful crisis, but those are more reasonable (and constructive) crisis.
So! That's what's going down on the home front. Hope everyone else is having a delightfully introspective week as well.

Another Lazy Sunday

So! I just took a two hour nap, ate some lunch, and realized I had some time with nothing to do. So why not write a blog? I says to myself. About what? I replied, you haven't taken any pictures lately, and nobody likes reading. Well, that's not the point, is it, was my retort. So I sets myself to thinking, and I started making a list of things (which I can remember) I've done in the last two weeks (in no particular order).
1. Finished my Materials Science 250 project
2. Wrote a Pulitzer prize worthy Spanish composition
3. Went to a Mae concert
4. Bought a "Barcelona" CD, an opening act
5. Threw a picnic
6. Read a book (Michael Chrichton)
7. Got a hair cut (finally)
8. Went to the Temple
9. Played Soccer
10. Played Ultimate
11. Played Volleyball
12. Went on a date (finally)
13. Cleaned apartments
14. Cleaned more apartments
15. Got sick of cleaning apartments
16. Got some digits ;)
17. Went swimming
18. Celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday
19. Cleaned the kitchen
20. Bought music from iTunes
21. Laughed for two hours straight at IHOP
22. Got free food at a barbeque
23. Got more free food at another
24. Watched way too many movies
25. Got a headache from too many movies
Realized that summer life is pretty awesome.

Westwater Canyon

Adventure! Excitement! Dirty Cold Water! So my friend Chandra got spots for Dave and I to go rafting with her and her family on the Colorado this Saturday. We camped overnight Friday and got going around 11am Saturday. The water was about 3 times bigger (cfs-wise) than you see here, so the trip was pretty short. The actual rapid part went pretty quick, and then we hooked all 5 rafts together, ate lunch and got tans. Or tried to.



No, I didn't climb those cliffs, so yes, these pictures are from the interwebnet, and yes, I forgot my camera, and no, I probably couldn't have used it anyone since its not waterproof (its held together with a rubber band for heaven's sake).

Another Observation

So! Since I moved out last Saturday I haven't had consistent access to the cyberinternetweb for various reasons (hence I haven't really answered emails, checked grades, been up to date on current events or written worthless blogs). Anyways, the interesting part about this forced internet fast is that I really didn't care. I just found more interesting and fun things to do. End of Observation.

Last One, I Promise

Last chance to make you jealous. Killer $20 day at Sundance. During an unspecified weekend. Errmmm...

Birthday Bash

So! My birthday was last Friday, and somehow everyone found out. So after I *demolished* a math test in the morning, went to class and returned home, I was summoned from my friend's apartment on the third floor to this:



Just multiply what you see by about 10 and you get the idea.
That night we made an expedition to the hot springs in Spanish Fork canyon, which require a 2.5 mile hike each way. We weren't the only ones who thought a full moon and a Friday night were ideal, however, so when we arrived there was really only one pool available. And that was only after we camped in it until the two guys already there gave up and went home.

Pretty much the best birthday ever. And that's not to mention the cake and balloons Linsday and Greg brought me. Nice. So I've decided that although Facebook says I don't have the most number of friends, I do have the best ones.

For anyone who was wondering, I'm still alive. But just barely.
That is all!

P.S. As soon as this academic crisis is over, I have stories to share.

Poetry of the Day

Oh please, green knees can only mean one thing:

Ultimate season.

Why Skipping Is Good

So! Today I went to the Capstone project fair for seniors in mechanical engineering (and skipped class to do it). First of all, you should know that I've been kind of totally doubting the wisdom of my choice in major due to some intense math and physics classes which are, for the first time I can remember, thoroughly kicking my butt due to content and not only because of my own laziness (study OUTSIDE of class? I don't understand...). Capstone, if you don't know, is a program where real companies with real problems give these problems to BYU students and give them real money to solve them. Anyway, first I ran into Mark III and his presentation - which seemed way cooler than most of the other projects, by the way - and continued in a tour of the 27 or so other booths. They were all awesome, from cutting down powder loss in a chemical plant to designing and producing bio-degradable biohazard containers for medical tools. Or designing an aerodynamic nose attachment for trains that can (and will) save Union Pacific 180 million dollars a year in diesel. You get the point, which is that I was convinced that this is the coolest major ever.

And now I must sleep so I can do 3 hours of physics homework tomorrow morning.

Straight Up

I ran out of things to blog. No good stories. All boringness. So! just like the local news reporting on animal drama, I post pictures of skiing expeditions. Greg and I pounced on some $20 passes Saturday.

Eeeewwwww.

On the back mountain, however, it was all goodness. Straight up.

For This

6 days. About 20 hours. My soul. For a pretty picture?

"Oh, son! For that you traded your everlastin’ soul?!"

"I wudden usin’ it."

Sam in Real Life

I have decided to stop posting things that are out of the ordinary, exciting and interesting and instead publish what Sam's life is REALLY like. For those who are not in the know, my major is mechanical engineering which does not tend to lead to much conversation.
Someone asks me what my major is, I reply, and they say...
a) Oh, ok, I know someone in that major (but I never see them)
b) Uh, Cool ........
c) ......... (grasshopper chirping)
Lets be honest, as far as physics and math is involved, unless you have two geeks together there's not going to be much to discuss. "Moments... vectors... yeah..."
So, without further ado, my life this week included:

Statics!

Calculus/Linear Algebra!

Failing Statics Tests!

Physics!

Attempting To Model Toy Boats in CAD!
This last one will probably continue to dominate my life for the next three days. Looks deceptively simple, but those little curves can demolish your soul.

Story/Bragging Time

First, story time. Thursday night Ryan and I realized that Friday night would be a great night to go backpacking. Full moon, not too cold, hadn't snowed in days, we didn't have dates, etc, etc. We chose a location, got everything ready, and set out. However, one of our key assumptions, that someone would have hiked the trail before us since the last snow, was false. Therefore, we got to a dead end where preceding on would have likely caused some sort of catastrophic avalanche, and therefore turned back. Our disappointment ruined our desire to sleep outside, so we came back and went ice skating with some friends instead.

Next, the bragging part. So! Ryan and I had previously signed up and paid for the Rex Lee Run, a cancer fundraiser for BYU. Also a 5k. Like, 3.1 miles. Like, something I've sworn off since four years of cross country convinced me that running is evil. So my plan was to take it easy, don't hurt myself, try not to bring back painful memories. Then someone gave me a goal to run it in less that 22 minutes. So, foolishly, I kind of went crazy. And posted my second best 5k time. Ever. Which is more of a reflection on my mediocrity during High School than my current awesomeness. Anyways, if you don't believe me, look up 86th place.
http://cancerresearch.byu.edu/race-results/REXLEE20095KOVERALL.HTM
Take that, cancer!

File Photograph (you won't find me).