Great A.R.T. Part IV: Dam it!

Procrastination is evil. I’ll try not to do it anymore ‘kay? This is a short one.

After we left Vegas we headed to the Hoover Dam. It was a winding and somewhat nervous road. They are building a new bridge that will make it somewhat less windy. It will be cool. I have no good pictures though.

So at the Dam, we opted out of the Dam Tour. We said “lady, you can keep your Dam Tour”. Not really, but I wanted too. Instead we took the Powerplant Tour. Which was still cool.



Did you know that the Hoover Dam is a fallout shelter? I did not see any giant robots though. That was disappointing.


After the tour we walked around on the Dam. It really is very big. Huuuuuge!


There are two of these odd things here. They look very. I’m not sure what word I’m looking for. Monumental? Anyway, you are supposed to rub their toes for luck, so the toes are a bright polished brass color.



So we didn’t hang around very long there. It was very hot. It was time to go through the desert on a horse with no name. Or a car named Isabel.

We stopped when we got to Kingman Arizona on the famous Route 66. We decided this was probably a good place to eat. It certainly was. If you are ever in Kingman Arizona, eat here.



And then we were in the desert again. The funniest part was, when we passed through Yuma, Arizona; which according to Guinness is the “sunniest place on earth”, it was raining. Go figure. That was the most rain we got until we returned to Alberta.



We didn’t see sand dunes though until we got to California. They were cool.

he sang a good song

Ow my head.

I drove to Champion and back today. The family reunion was fun, but my head hurts now. So no continuation today. Maybe tomorrow.

A guy like me doesn't get many dates

Great A.R.T. Part III: Viva Las Vegas!

I should be packing, but I’m gonna try to get this up anyway.
So we were in Vegas. I had booked our room that morning at the Stratosphere and check in wasn’t much of a problem. Finding our room was only slightly complicated. But we did find it. It was an okay room. The view was of a stairwell, but we didn’t come for the view.



We walked down the strip for a bit before we realised that the Strat is pretty far awy from any of the cool hotels. We decided to call it a night. In the morning I got up early and went to the temple. I think that gave me some small measure of protection against the city.

When I got back we decided to use our complimentary tickets to the top of the tower. This is somewhat different from the Calgary tower because the Strat, at 108 stories, is actually alot taller than any of the nearby buildings.


We decided to have lunch while were up there. It was a pretty nice restaurant so I felt a little underdressed, but whatever. The food was good.



We bought tickets to take ‘The Deuce’ around the strip all day. This was important because the temperature in the shade was 110F (43C). But it was a dry heat, which just meant you had to drink alot, and stay indoors as much as possible. I wanted to jump in here, but the water was probably gross. We saw many casinos. Went shopping at a number of places, and ate, I don’t remember where.


So figuring we had to see at least one show while in Vegas, we decided that “the Blue Man Group” was the most interesting. They have Arrested Development at least in part to thank for our decision. The bonus was that the tickets came with admission to the Wax Museum.

That is my Hat on the wax figure of Patrick Stewart. Sonja was excited that she also had that hat on her head.

Ryan Seacrest looked more real than the one on TV. Hmm. And I think Simon really liked me. Look at him – he’s almost smiling.

Blueman Group was awesome. If you ever get a chance – go. I obviously couldn’t take pictures of the show (on threat of ejector seat). But I took this after. I don’t know who that other guy is.

We also tried to catch the free show at Treasure Island. But it was cancelled. Now what happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, but what happened after might be called a mob. And I may have given someone a black eye, and I may have had to jump off a platform to escape. We’ll leave it at that.


We went back to the Strat. To fulfill a promise I fed $1 into a slot machine. It ate it. It was very anticlimactic.


The next morning as we headed out of town, we stopped to look at the rest of the Strip. It was mostly uninteresting.

I’m careless and I’m cruel

Great A.R.T. Part II: We were once exiles

Well, my car isn’t completely clean, but I’m gonna stop with the procrastination.
We left Provo early in the morning and headed south. The day started out cool and bright and the temperature rose as with the sun. I was very grateful for air conditioning.
We passed through Cedar City and continued to Hurricane. There we saw the sign pointing us to Zion National Park and the Grande Canyon. We turned but didn’t go to either.

This is not the Grand Canyon.
We did drive towards Zion National Park though. We drove through a town called Virgin. We thought this was funny.

We figured this was close enough. When we opened the doors of the car it was like stepping into an oven. I figured that without water you would die in that heat pretty quick. We figured it was time to be getting on.

So we made it to St. George. That temple was closed for maintenance too, but we stopped to take pictures anyway.



So my Dad had told me that I should find a place called Pine Valley near St. George because my ancestors came through there. Despite road construction and a rather steep climb, Isabel made it to Pine Valley. I figured that the historic Pine Valley Chapel was a good place to start.



The sign said to come in for free tours so I did. The couple there gave us some historic background on the area and on the building and then showed us around. They seemed impressed that I was a Forsyth and even more impressed that I was descended from the original leader of the community.


There were even portraits of some of my ancestors, including this woman. Family lore says she is a granddaughter of John Adams (2nd President of the United States). But that might be a myth.


The couple told me that there was a Forsyth Canyon in the area (I’m assuming named after my ancestor) so I decided I should check it out. I’m glad I did. While Pine Valley is generally greener than the rest of southern Utah, Forsyth Canyon was especially verdant, and several degrees cooler I might add.



Before I left I decided I should check out the cemetery. I found a couple of Forsyth names I didn’t recognise. The center of the graveyard was this guy and his 6 wives (I’m descended from the 3rd one).


So now for real we were on our way to Vegas. The most exciting part was where the I-15 cuts through a corner of Arizona. All that there is on that stretch is this gorge. I asked Tyler to take some pictures as we drove. I was a little busy with the steering.



We survived that and made it to Vegas. I was glad we could see our hotel from quite a ways away.



Next: The place that is hotter than Hell and twice as wicked.

Who would ever want to be king?

Great American Road Trip: Part 1: Familiar Territory.

So I said I'd post this like - two days ago. I suppose this trip has not taught me to not procrastinate. hopefully people will come back to see it.

Over the last few weeks I've been on a bit of an adventure of my own. I saw foreign lands, strange people, and familiar faces. I'll be posting this serial-wise, because theres just too much for one post.

I'm counting the trip from when I left Edmonton. My trip meter is on Okm and it is Sunday, July 6. Destination Okotoks.

I drove to Okotoks with Lori early in the morning. We were early for church so we went to Wade’s o see Kate early. She is very cute. I found out afterwards that she looks exactly like Aunt Ruellen.



Afterwards there was lunch at Wade's. There were alot of Forsyths and Williams there and afew others.


That night I stayed in Bragg Creek. Ruellen and Jonathan have nearly finished the basement guest room. It is quite nice, with a rustic feel. They could totally do a bed and breakfast there.

Monday July 7 – I awoke early and Aunt Ruellen prepared a stampede pancake breakfast. It was very good. I should send a thank you to them. I drove to Calgary to meet Tyler on the south side of the city. We had a little trouble getting out of the city. But were soon well on the way. We stopped in Lethbridge and bought a small power inverter for the car and an Aux cable. We made it to the border around 10:30 and were across by 11. The border guard was very nice.


Travelling though Montana was pretty boring for the most part. We filled up in Helena (630 - $47.92), but otherwise didn’t stop. Once we got into the mountains it was very beautiful. We stopped again in Dillon to eat at Sparky’s garage and to teach Tyler how to drive standard. Sparky’s was very good. Tyler drove until we got to Pocatello and then he called his Aunt.

There was some construction on the I-15, but it didn't slow us down too much. What did slow us down was our directions to where we were going. We got to Provo around 10:30pm and took what we thought was the right exit, then somehow ended up in Orem. This was confusing because Orem and Provo use the same system for street numbering soo we weren't sure which was was north or south. This was a type of things to come it seems.

At long last we found ourselves and then found Tyler's Aunt's house. I will have to send them a thank-you because they were quite hospitable to us. Chris is an officer for BYU 5-0 and had some interesting stories. Apparently BYU is a hotbed for terrorists, well, apparently at least 1 suspected terrorist. Crazy. I slept on the floor of their exercise room and it was quite comfortable.

By the morning another of Tyler's cousins had also arived in the night and Aunt Sandy had made Waffles for everybody. And here I was expecting not many hot meals on this trip.

We found our way to Temple square and I was fully prepared to go to the Salt Lake Temple. Unfortunately it was closed for maintenance. Tyler and I had already separated so I decided to take a tour of the Conference center instead. I joined up with a nice tour group. A Sister from Sandy Utah and her friends from Virginia/DC area. All of us were members but for the first half of the tour the guide thought that I wasn't for some reason. It must have been the beard, or the hat?






Anyway, after this I walked around temple square for a bit, took some pictures, and went to a recital at the Tabernacle. It was quite impressive, but the Tabernacle seems smaller in real life. Not much bigger than the Cathedrals in Edmonton.


I eventually met up with Tyler and we took a look in the Visitors center and in the Joseph Smith memorial building. I had no Idea that they used it for church meetings. Also, quite by accident, I found the Distribution Center in the basement and bought some personal church supplies. I also ran into my new friends from the Conference center tour again.





So that's it for today, I have to go finish cleaning my car. Next Up: Family history in southern Utah!

You could be an air hostess in the 60s

Vegitation

I have a tendency to assume that I only have to tell one person some news and that it will eventually get around to everyone I know. This is apparently not the case because there are still people that don’t know that I’ve been unemployed (that is freed from the oppression of wage slavery etc) for the last few weeks.

Most people know that I was planning on quitting my job. However, I was going to do it this month. My employers decided to pre-emptively fire me. This is fine because now I can apply for Employment Insurance (which, like all insurance, is a scam). I have taken the opportunity to self-reflect and vegetate. As well as hang out with my friends who are likewise underemployed.

I shaved off my beard. Took some pictures and deleted them. Decided I didn’t like it, and so grew most of it back. But I’ll be keeping it at a nice trimmed level from now on.

Next month I will post much. Stay tuned: tell your friends.

He works from 9 to 5

Long live the Queen

Well, it’s certainly been awhile since I posted. I’d love to say it’s because I’ve been busy – but it’s really because I’ve been lazy.

Anyway – lets start with the May long weekend. I went to high Prairie. Took some drive by shooting in the Swan Hills. There was alot of traffic.




Hung out with family. Teeter-toters: not as fun as they used to be.


Apparently cookie baking is a family activity.



That is all.
Peace out.

feel the benefit of it

OMGWTFBBQ!

Woah

Lights all green

Times and Seasons

Well, it’s certainly been a long time since I’ve made a real post. My I suppose I haven’t had much time to do such things. Well, it’s a lazy Sunday morning now and I have several hours before I have to go to church, or anywhere for that matter.

Unfortunately I don’t have much to write on. Not that things haven’t happened; from making progress in my career to shaking hands with a modern apostle of Jesus Christ. But I’m not really feeling it for those things.

But there is one thing that I suppose I can post on; for the 3 people who read this I suppose. I’ve developed my own personal calendar.

I made is several years ago now, and so far it’s been fairly useful in making predictions for my general mood. Perhaps it is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, but hey – it seems to work.

In developing it I decided that it should be a 7 week calendar, because 7 is a good number. Then named each week according to the 4 classical elements, added two of my own, and ended the cycle with a ‘sabbath’ week. Then I started the calendar at an arbitrary point. After awhile I noticed that the events of my life started to fit with the calendar. For example, I only ever get sick during the 6th week of my calendar. And almost everything that happens during my Sabbath week is a blessing. During the week of ‘water’ I am most comfortable (water being my natural element), and I tend to only develop crushes during a week of ‘fire’.

I’ve also noticed that the turnover from one week to the next generally happens in the early afternoon on Sundays. This seemingly arbitrary time supports the evidence of this being a type of self-fulfilling prophecy. But I am genuinely surprised at how profound the correlation is. I’m inclined to believe that it really is ‘all in your head’. Even health and sickness are affected by belief and state of mind. Because I have grown used to certain weeks being better or worse for me, I believe that they will continue to follow that pattern, and they do.

This was not an easy process; It took me years to actually start believing that this arbitrary pattern meant something. But once I was able to convince myself of it, it actually became real; to me at least. This leads to existential questions that I’d rather not get into, but it proves at least one thing. Faith and belief have real power. I find that, at least, comforting.

We’ll be singing when we’re winning

What the???

How long has my name been spelled wrong? Either I never look at my own name, or Someone's been hacking my brain. Poll: Did anyone notice and just think I was being quirky?

Shields Up!

So I was reading the other day on defence mechanisms that we use. I found it quite informative. I reflected on what mechanisms I use personally and which ones I probably shouldn’t.

For example, while genuine humour is considered a healthy way of dealing with anxiety, wit (including sarcasm) is actually considered a form of displacement, which is somewhat neurotic and not very healthy. And I think there really is a difference. It is easy to make a sarcastic or dismissive statement to break a tense situation, but it really doesn’t make anyone feel any better. But to make everyone genuinely laugh can do wonders in actually dealing with the tension. It’s an interesting distinction.

Another distinction is between Suppression (which is healthy) and Repression (which is not). Suppression is taking a deep breath and counting to ten. This allows us to temporarily ignore the anxiety so that it can be dealt with at a more appropriate time. Repression, on the other hand, is wilfully ignoring the cause of our anxiety for so long that we actually forget why it makes us uncomfortable. All that remains are the negative feelings, which become irrational and neurotic. This was the case between me and my dislike of the City of Calgary. I repressed my dislike until it became totally irrational. Only when I was ready to deal with those feelings honestly was I able to begin to like the city again.

Now I’m being very careful to not psychoanalyse my friends and colleagues, because that would be less than helpful. But I think self-therapy can be good. As such, I found a list of the defences that are considered the healthiest, found scriptural backing and I will try to use these more consciously in the future. At the same time, I will try to not use the neurotic defences that I’ve been guilty of in the past. Sanity, here I come!

Who had been there before?

Isabel and I

I’d first like to thank those of you who remembered my birthday and wished me a happy one. Birthdays are really not a big thing for me personally, but it’s still nice when people make you the center of attention for a little while.

And from my horoscope, this looks like it should be a good year from me ;)

For those of us born on: March 12
Happy Birthday! The months ahead are likely to start with some excellent developments at work or school. Sometimes it’s easy to follow someone else’s lead, but by being different or innovative you’re sure to find success! April will be a very strong month in terms of forging ahead even more, while June could bring up an old issue from the past, which will need to be sorted! August is likely to be a challenging month in terms of work or school; it could feel like one step forward, two steps back, but from September this will ease, and romance should really start to take off! Singles are more likely to meet someone very special from this time on! The run up to Christmas will be unusually hectic, but the New Year is likely to be slow!

But I would like to share my adventure from yesterday with you. It was spent mostly in my car, and spanned 1140km all told.

I left the apartment at around 7:30 in the morning. I had originally intended to go the night before and stay in Lethbridge, but then decided against it.

I filled up Isabel at my usual Husky station and then realised – ‘oop, forgot my tie’. So I went back and got it. Only a very slight detour and I was back on my way. 109th St, 61st Ave, Calgary Trail and I’m on good ol' QE2 for the long haul.

The weather was not too bad for the most part, although the roads were pretty wet. The drive to Calgary was mostly uneventful and grey, as it usually is.

The Deerfoot was nice and open and I ripped through Cow-town fairly quickly. After this the sun was starting to peak out from the clouds and it was beautiful weather.

A little after noon I reached Lethbridge, city of my birth, land of my nativity, and promptly got lost. I really didn’t mind though. I saw some of the newer subdivisions and got a nice view of the coulees. But this was no time to stop for pictures; I had places to be and people to see.

So after a little bit of back-tracking I found my way to highway 5 onward to Magrath. After getting lost in Magrath (but only a little; there is only so much of that town to get lost in) I found my way to the chapel.

It was a lovely reception. The bride was stunning and both bride and groom were just beaming with joy. That is truly why I like weddings; the air is just saturated with good feeling. The food was really good to.

I ducked out of the wedding a little early so that I could make it into Calgary by 6. On my way out I saw 4 deer running full tilt down the street. That was interesting. And as I was leaving the town I saw a funeral procession coming in. It struck me as profound.

I took the more scenic route between Lethbridge and Calgary and discovered a new hobby. I call it drive-by-shooting. It’s where you stop and set up the camera for multiple shots, and then, when you see a particularity good vista, you just hold up the camera (while keeping both eyes on the road and 1 hand on the wheel) and press the shutter. Take a few shots, and then sort through them later. This was my best.



I got to Calgary in good time, and then I got wonderfully lost. It was as if I had lost all navigation skill. Whenever I was presented with a fork in the road it seemed I always took the wrong one. I ended up seeing places of the city not usually seen (did you know there are streets in Bowness that aren’t paved) And as I was driving through Tuscany I started to doubt my choice of profession for some reason. Very odd.

At any rate, I managed to find the West Stake centre just in time for the opening prayer. I had hoped to sing with the choir for this Alberta-wide concert, but it was just as enjoyable to watch.

Then came the real adventure. It had just started to snow as I was leaving the church, and before long it was coming down in a beautiful but deadly way. I made my way through the city to the north end of the Deerfoot and got on the QE2. This was white-knuckle driving. I am very thankful for rumble strips because I certainly couldn’t see the shoulder.

I varied between 100 and 60 km/h based on how hard the snow was coming and how many people were around me. The worst was just outside of Innisfail when I really couldn’t see at all. That was fun.

After I passed Red Deer the weather improved and I made fairly good time. I pulled into my apartment at around 12:30 and went to bed. My trip meter was 1140, And I only stopped for Gas once in Lethbridge. I love my car.

He grew a beard as soon as he could

Narrativium

Sometimes, especially in science fiction or fantasy writing, an author feels the need to take some time to explain something that doesn’t quite jive with our understanding of things. Done right, this is very entertaining and educational. Terry Pratchet does it very well. So does this guy.

For your amusement. Pardon me if this makes no sense.

Kevyn's statement about events taking place "simultaneously" while "light hours apart" may give itching fits to those familiar with Einstein's General and Special Relativity. If the speed of light is the maximum speed of propagation of information, then there is no frame of reference in which events light-hours apart can be meaningfully said to have occurred simultaneously.

As Kevyn himself can tell you, however, the speed of light is not the maximum speed of information propagation. Hypernet nodes can relay information across the galaxy instantaneously (assuming proper configuration, no user-serviceable parts inside, past performance is not an indicator of future results, your mileage may vary) and gravitic sensors can detect the distortions of space and time caused by concentrations of mass before those distortions can ripple through Einsteinian space.

Consider an observer in a room full of people. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those people several meters apart pull down their pants. Simultaneously. At these distances and on this scale, the observer's frame of reference is the same frame as that of the events (pants pulling-down), so simultaneity can be described in a meaningful way. The observer can quickly conclude that he/she is in a frat-house, college dormitory, or sans-a-belt slacks convention.

Now consider the same observer in a system full of starships. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those starships several light-hours apart pull down their... umm... pants. Yeah. Whatever. Stay with me. If this was observed via electromagnetic radiation, the observer's frame of reference is the only frame in which these events were simultaneous. But (and this is the important part) if the observer was using gravitic sensors, or hypernet-equipped sensors a few hundred meters from each ship, his frame of reference becomes the SAME frame of reference as that of the events in question, and the events are simultaneous in that frame.

Oddly enough, with the right clocks and a good A.I., this common frame can be established even when one of the ships is moving at relativistic speeds. The pants just come off slower. Or faster. Whichever.

The profound, causal absurdity of a universe in which a single frame of reference can be used to describe events light-years apart pales in comparison to the absurdity of a universe in which starships remove their pants at the speed of light.

Fortunately, Schlock Mercenary is not about starship pants, and is therefore no more absurd than it needs to be.

Thank you, good night.

He could’ve smashed through any bank in the united states

The better part of valor

I was going to write an entry on a personal matter. I have decided against it. If any of you would like to discuss it in person, I would be happy to.

Instead, as promised, I’d like to share a dream. Inspired by some guy I met, I’ve started keeping a dream journal. So far I’ve discovered that I have some tripped out dreams. To preserve the trippines of the dream, this next part will be without punctuation. Because dreams are rarely punctuated.

i was playing a rather complicated game that included playing cards game pieces dice dominos and paperclips everyone else in the dream seemed to know the rules to the game but i had no clue what i was doing nor even the object of the game all i knew was that it involved moving game pieces from one end of the room to the other end

people were trying to explain the rules to me but were speaking in obscure riddles like does not peanut butter also give rise to freedome and such like i was doing my very best to cheat by hiding my paperclip but i got the impression that everyone else was doing a better job a cheating than i was

at one point a rolled a 2 on the dice which was apparently a bad thing i think i at least got the sense that i was losing badly then again i rarely win at games i resolved to cheat harder next time



So what does that mean? I think it means I need to stop eating chimichangas before bedtime.

Due to lack of interest, tomorrow’s cancelled

Less is More

Not much of a post here, as the title suggests, sometimes minimalism can be a good thing.

For example, I would like to point you to this site. It is Garfield minus Garfield. Some of you may not find it very funny, but with the absence of Garfield I find a hilarious (and yet somehow sad) strip about Jon. It just goes to show that sometimes the punch-line can ruin the joke. Just remember – Garfield can’t actually talk, so he’s more or less an imaginary friend already.



Also, I’ve started a dream diary. You might expect some of my better ones sometime in the future.

Peace out.

jibun ni taerarenai morosa

I'm sorry for what I done

First of all, I would like to apologise for my flagrant use of baby pictures. I realize that it is somewhat cliché, and much overdone in general, but hey, they are cute babies. To make up for it, I’ll post a really dirty picture at the bottom of the post. If you don’t want to see it, don’t scroll down.

This leads me to the topic of this post, apologising. I suck at it. I have too much tendency to do this because I can. Usually I do feel much regret for when I screw up, but accepting responsibility has never really been one of my strong suits. For this I apologise.

This morning I read a public apology from one artist to another who he had inadvertently plagiarised. The copying was not an accident, but the offending artist had never meant for the piece to be published. It was obviously sincere, and he took full responsibility for his lack of judgement. But at the same time it read as somewhat awkward.

In fact I think I see something that is a bit of a key to sincere apology. It should be awkward and show some real embarrassment. If I’m truly sorry it is not that I got caught, and not even that the other person was offended, but rather sorry that I did something really dumb.

I’m sorry about alot of things. I’m also not sorry about things that I think that I ought to be. I’m a little sorry about that, but it’s not really the same is it?

I also apologise for things that I’m not sorry about at all. For example, I am not sorry for posting pictures of my niece and nephew, and yet I apologised for it just afew moments ago. What I should have said is ‘excuse me’. Which is to say, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong, but I realise that I may be taxing your patience a little bit; If you will indulge me for this small thing I would be greatly appreciative”. But that really takes too long to say.

So my new resolution is to say ‘excuse me’, and ‘pardon me’ more often, and ‘sorry’ less often. Hopefully I’ll also do dumb things less often so that I have less things to be sorry about.

And now, as promised, a really dirty picture.



This is a guy I work with. This could have been me on valentines day as I was doing the same job as him. This is posted with his permission.

your highbrow Marxist ways

OMG BABIES!

Quick update: Babies

Introducing to the internets baby Enzo



And baby Keira



Peace out

I’ll sing a song you’ve never ever heard