scrambling hills

2011-05-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Rock Climbing can be dangerous
Shooting

Welding

Camping and Utah Lake

Golf Club Fixed

Utah lake

cinema bo

2010-12-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

yosemite

2010-08-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

the good old days

2010-06-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

daylight+

2010-06-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

2010-04-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Glory Days

2010-04-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

final fan

2010-03-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

iron gym

2010-03-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

Tape wood

2010-03-01T21:56:00.001-08:00

Tape

2010-03-01T21:54:00.001-08:00

+bo

2010-02-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

2010-02-09T21:20:00.001-08:00

fan part 5

2010-02-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

2010-01-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Homework 1 Fan clip

2010-01-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

this is my homework

это как мы катем...

2009-11-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

daylight

2009-11-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

100 man points

2009-10-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Daylight

2009-10-04T08:35:00.001-07:00

EXIT 119 No Name

2009-09-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

2009-08-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

baby! more to come...

2009-08-25T22:55:00.001-07:00

malekahana falls

2009-08-08T18:07:00.001-07:00

new dirt boarding video

2009-08-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

Dirt Boarding 202 from Austin Spring on Vimeo.

Grandfather Iron Wood

2009-07-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

eye asparagus

2009-07-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

фотография

2009-06-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

adventures in magic land

2009-06-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

s.s. Lying Duck

2009-06-18T00:17:00.000-07:00

with a little luck we should be sailing soon

Ka'a'awa Ridge Trail

2009-06-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

something bit Ethan at the beach

2009-06-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

to infinity

2009-05-20T03:22:00.001-07:00

07.07.07

2009-05-16T01:51:00.000-07:00

July 7 2007
We had our little party for the fourth of July on the fifth of July. We went bowling it was pretty fun. Lipitsk came down, Elders Brown, Sorensen, Hale, and Lundquist. Then after bowling we went to the branch and "played" games. First we played "poision ball" and I got tagged in the balls so yeah, then we played "sardines." My companion and I played with badmittion rackets as guns and looked for people like the SWAT team. Then we played basket ball which was what all the elders wanted except for my companion and Mosses, (Harringtion) and the sisters of course. then we ordered pizza and watched the Best Two Years. It was a pretty good day but after I was way tired and like one line from the movie "...this is trunking me out of my mind."

From the Porch

2009-05-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

mountains
hibiscus
coconut tree

living room

2009-05-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

house

2009-04-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

you scratch my back...

2009-04-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

bored

2009-04-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

wheel and key

2009-04-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Policial Epiphany

2009-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

while watching the 2008 Presidential elections I had an epiphany. In order to balance the electoral college, a new state should be added to the system. This new state would have some number of electoral votes, not to many, but enough to make it worth the candidates time, 10-15 maybe. This new state would be special in that anyone, from any state, could vote for it. This new state would help people in those states which always go a certain way, or those that feel like their votes don't really matter, like Hawaii, (I swear they declare the winner before they even finish counting Hawaii's votes) This new state would also give a more accurate count of the direct popular vote. Another benefit of this state would be to make the race more even in real states. some people would want to vote for the new state but if two many vote for it then it leaves the real state up to the other party. Every state could just add a box at the top of their ballot allowing the individual to choose which state their vote would count. I can see that this may cause a problem for those states who would have less then the new state, but everyone knows that their votes hardly count anyways... so it would really be different except to let the people who live there feel like their vote actually counts. We should add this new state to the electoral college for the next election. I would vote in it. Would you?

Your ideal conversation

2009-04-15T13:02:00.001-07:00

If you were at a dinner table with 3 empty seats, and you could fill them with 3 people (living or dead), for an extended conversation about life, politics, wine, wealth, women, whatever... who would you invite?

Pirates need to watch American movies more often.

2009-04-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

You want to know why I love America? Because we don't take crap from nobody. We love to fight, about absolutely anything and, strangely enough, that is what makes us great. The government was built on the principle of conflict and even if Congress takes it to the extreme sometimes, that principle has made us the most successful and prosperous populace the world's ever seen. Which brings me to the root of my current Americasm:

Have people been following the Somalian pirate hostage deal? Some genius called right at the outset and negotiated the movie rights, I'm sure, and he was a genius. So an American shipping vessel gets attacked by pirates. The Americans fight back, kill some of the pirates, injure some others, take some of THEM hostage and chase the others off. The remaining pirates take the captain of the boat hostage on a lifeboat and hold him there for days. In the meantime, US personnel are treating one of the pirates who was stabbed by an American crew member (haha!), and negotiating with him. The American captain, no doubt remembering the last Russel Crowe movie he saw, attempts a daring escape but jumping into the water, but is recaptured. He is held for another few days, until American snipers, aboard the massive battleship that we sent to the scene, take out the three pirates and rescue the captain. When he gets back to safety he is laughing and looks like he was just in an awesome action movie. And someday soon, this definitely will be a movie.

Man I love being American. I might loud, lazy, ignorant, annoying when I travel and totally full of myself, but If I ever get captured by pirates I am definitely going to stab one of them.

Also, President Obama since I am sure you are reading this, you are the man. This may be the first and only time I say it, but you are the man for being on top of that situation.

He's like a fictional character, but he's real...

2009-04-08T13:33:00.001-07:00

This is Bob Dylan on Barack Obama:

He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.

Why can't my homework look like this...

2009-04-07T11:48:00.001-07:00

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

2009-04-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Daniel told me about this car the other day, and then I remembered that Tony had told me about the company a while ago but I forgot to look it up so, I finally looked it up and it blew my mind.
It seems like, and I could be wrong, this is the first fully electric car that caters to the average person. It even looks normal, something that has been difficult for electric car makers. You will have to go to the site to get all the details but, here are a few, 45 minutes to charge this car up to 80% , and a 300 mile range on a full charge. Seats 5 adults and 2 kids in the smaller back seats, or a bike or some other big stuff that you wouldn't expect to fit. They claim the cost to charge it about 4 dollars, so the savings on gas would be intense. I think this car is a great step in the right direction and if Daniel and I can scrape the 50 grand that it cost together in the next two years (they will actually start selling them in 2011) then we are so buying one. This could be a very significant step to a seriously less gas dependent society. So check it out...

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php

2009-03-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

I have a deep respect for our President. He is the man, and he is doing the hardest job in the entire world, and he is doing it selflessly I think.

I also have a deep, abiding love for Zombies. So when I found this picture, it was like a dream come true.

I believe in Brains

colors of the wind

2009-03-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we decided to check out the local Hare Krishna Temple and the Festival of Colors. I don't know much about it except that tons of people get together and then at some predetermined time someone lights this bon-fire and everyone starts throwing multi-colored chalk at each other.

This is before...
during...

and after... well, I think the chalk is probably still hanging around.

2009-03-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHCG5DXRC8o

It has all the elements of a good YouTube Video-- Zombies, Beer, and making fun of Democrats.

In other news, this week the Senate will debate a bill that would change how College Football champions are determined. Really Congress? Really?

I'm going to the airport today to meet Noelle when she arrives. Woooohoo!

Y virgins

2009-03-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Even after living here for a while now, today was the first time that I had hiked the "Y" and it was also Noelle's fist time. Luckily we had our well
experienced guides, Sienna and Tony.

The view was pretty cool

The Great Wall of Chocolate

2009-03-18T08:14:00.001-07:00

After helping a friend move yesterday, we went out for something sweet. PF Changs "Great Wall Of chocolate" helped to hit the spot, plus, 2300 calories.

Movies so far this year

2009-03-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

Theater and DVD releases this Winter have been a mixed bag. Here are some highlights, what to see and what to avoid:

See:
Let the Right One In
The Wrestler
Synecdoche, New York
Slumdog Millionaire
Once
Dear Zachary
Waltz with Bashir
Doubt
Frost/Nixon

Ok, but probably not worth your money:
Changeling
Watchmen
Defiance
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Abhorrent beyond belief:
Seven Pounds
Milk

a letter to daniel in russia

2009-03-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

hey man, sorry ive taken so long. the internet here is lamo

i dont know if you got the two other times i tried to write you.

ok so any was the first day i was in russia we were at the mission office

in moscow were were like sleeping and stuff and then some elders

were going to mcdonalds and I was like starving so i went

and like just across the street from the office 3 drunk guys yelled at us

and i was like k somethings gonna go down but we just kept walking

then this rabbid renik dog bites my leg destroys my new pants

and this guard dude was being a retarted he thought the dog was ours

and then he went to get some crap to put on my leg and i was like

good story, so we went back to the office before he came back.

and now i have a manly scar on my leg.

so yeah my companion is roosky,

we dont eat dinner and he gets mad at me for the dumbest things

and we cant even argue because he doesnt speak english,

lame. other then that, i think its pretty typical down here

im in tyla, about 2 hours south of moscow. tolsoy wrote war and peace

here, theres a big statue. and tula is/was i dont know but anyways

all the soviet weapons are made here, we went to this museum about it

it was kinda cool but pretty boring. man i want some steak

meat here sucks

and my compaion buys this nasy meat in a can with bones and

lard and bonemarrow and its sick.

anyways, I better go. i hope you get this one

laters

Austin

as long as we are talking about stealing...

2009-03-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget the time I got caught stealing watermelons from old Mr. Barnslow's watermelon patch. I was with my friend Bobby. We were giggling so hard I thought I'd wet my pants! At first we tried to steal two watermelons each, but they were too heavy and we dropped them, and that made us laugh even harder. Finally, we each picked out a good one, and we were just about to sneak back through the fence when we heard a low, deep voice behind us. "Just where do you think you're going with those watermelons?" I gulped and turned around. It was old Mr. Barnslow, pointing his shotgun at us. Bobby dropped his watermelon, then pulled out the .38 revolver he kept in his waist, turned, and fired. But the turning must have thrown off his aim, because the shot only hit Mr. Barnslow in the thigh. Mr. Barnslow immediately fired both barrels at Bobby. One blast of buckshot missed entirely, but the other tore into Bobby's shoulder. He tried to fire back, but his shoulder was so torn up he couldn't raise his arm. Just as he was trying to switch to his left hand, Mr. Barnslow ran up and cracked him across the face with the butt of his shotgun. Bobby fell to the ground in a heap. Mr. Barnslow raised the butt of his gun to finish him off, but just then Bobby pulled out his hunting knife and plunged it into the farmer's big white belly. After that, I don't think I stole watermelons for at least a year.

-Jack Handy

2009-03-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

"All my life I have longed to be alone in a place like this. Even when everything was going well, as it often did. I can say that much. That it often did. I have been lucky. But even then, For instance in the middle of an embrace and someone whispering words in my ear that I wanted to hear, I could suddenly get a longing to be in a place where there was only silence. Years might go by and I did not think about it, but that does not mean that I did not long to be there...Time is important to me now, I tell myself. Not that it should pass quickly or slowly, but be only time, be something I live inside and fill with physical things and activities that I can divide it up by, so that it grows distinct to me and does not vanish when I am not looking."

-Per Petterson, Out Stealing Horses

2009-03-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

essay I wrote in 11th grade

2009-03-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

(The picture has nothing to do with the essay its just a radom one from high school that I think is cool)

Last summer I went to New York and Washington D.C. for history day. In New York I got to visit my cousin, his wife and their little boy. My cousin lives in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn bridge. We (my Mom who will always do what it takes to get what she wants, my sister Noelle, who is always complaining about everything, my cousin Sienna who is a “super genius” and was our fearless guide threw the Brooklyn projects, my friend Daniel who is always joking around or making fun of people) arrived in New York at around lunch time and then rented a car and drove to Brooklyn. The drive was uneventful except for my sisters losing battle for the front seat which she will never forget.
We started to see some of the really tall buildings in the fog on the horizon. We got to my cousins house around five or six, and it was lightly raining and really cold. I was complaining because when I was packing, my cousin Sienna (who knows every thing) offered the advice, when I asked if I should bring some long sleeve shirts, “New York is so hot, all you’re going to be wearing shorts and t-shirts.” I remembered this as I shivered through the freezing rain, dragging the oversized bag my mom had recently bought me, to my cousin Enoch's apartment in an old looking red brick building. As we stepped into the buildings small lobby the rain really started coming down. Daniel thought we would die from the huge drops of rain.
After we settled, we had a delicious breakfast, Enoch was great at making breakfast foods for dinner. We had waffles, blueberries, hash browns, scrambled eggs and fruit. After dinner my mom said “Come move the car with me,” so I trekked back down stairs in one of my cousins huge coats and through the torrential rain to the rental car. My mom wanted to park as close as we could to the apartment even if we had to squeeze in-between a driveway and a SUV and risk “death by chain saws” as Daniel said. In the process of trying to squeeze in to the claustrphobic space my mom bumped into the SUV infront of us. She went into reverse to put a little space between the two cars but for some reason she never quite got the car in reverse and then looking behind us she eased the gas moving us into the car in front of us, and pushed it up onto the hood of our car. I yelled at my mom (who wasn't sure what was happening) to stop and she did and really went in reverse this time. As we backed away I could see the classic style SUV with false wood paneling go back down to its original position and my mom had finally parked the car. That night we sleep through thunder, lightning and stuffy noses (we were all sick) and in the morning no one wanted to get up.
We finally got up and dressed with the least amount of energy possible even with my mom driving us like slaves, and headed down stairs with my mom telling us all the things we had to get done in one day, which was absoluty mind boggling. After two seconds outside we all went back up stairs to put on warmer clothes. Once appropriately dressed we walked to the end of the street to catch a shuttle with a bunch of New Yorkers (think New York accent) to the sub way station. We had to get sub way cards to ride the train and Noelle wanted to do it even though Sienna was already an expert. After much deliberation we went out to the platform to wait for the train. When it came a lot of people wanted to get on, so we waited patiently (except for my mom) then tried to pack. In the process of getting in the train doors shut clamping on Daniel like a starved monster trying to swallow some hopeless pray. The doors didn't open right a way and Daniel gave a small yelp then they opened and as soon as he was free they shut again with a space ship door type sound and the speedy train was on its way. Daniel still thinks the train tried to eat him.
We got off the train at some station Sienna designated and made our way threw battery park to the ferry dock to go to the Statue of Liberty. We went into a large white tent and put our stuff threw a metal detector which let me through with a small pocket knife, a bunch of random metal objects I had collected over some time and a small metal rod in my back pack. Daniel was amazed because the metal rod could be a weapon and we could be terrorists. We got on the slow boat and went to the top which was the coldest wettest place to be( my mom forced us up there to get the best view damn the costs). It took the better part of a half hour to get to the statue, which Daniel couldn't see because he forgot his glasses at the house which was a conspiracy, Daniel informed us. When we were almost back to the shore my mom called my other cousin Aaron who also lived in New York. He also just happened to work close to Battery Park. So we met him and had a chat. After our chat we again boarded the nightmare some call... “public transportation”...(dun dun dun). We had lunch and again risked death to travel under ground. we got of at the stop Sienna told us to, and took a walk threw Central park to get to the Metropolitan Museum. We looked around for a while then started to walk in circles trying to get back to the place where we were supposed to meet. On our way we found my mom who said she would be just a minute so we kept going in some circles then made it to the bench where Sienna and Noelle had sat down to rest. Noelle was up set because we were late. My mom took even longer and our rest turned into sleep and I’m told some people (daniel called them rapests) took pictures of us but eventually my mom came and
we went on our way.
Our next stop was the Empire State building which was across the city so we took the bus which was just as scary as the train with crazy local and fast moving doors. We made it to the Empire State building only because my mom insisted and went threw some more metal detectors none of which said any thing about the countless weapons in my bag. We waited in a strange winding line for a while before we got to the top then, we got to see the sights of the city (well the tops of the sights of the city). We walked around of a while which we had been doing all day so Daniel and I went down to the lobby to wait for the slow pokes. We waited for like 30 minutes then they come down saying they want to go ride some simulator ride which I though we decided against, but no, my mom dragged us back up the tower to ride some lame little simulator with a screen maybe twice the size of a normal tv. You could see the sides of the room so you could tell the floor was moving and you weren't in the movie. Everyone agreed that the ride was lame and so went back to the sub way and back to Brooklyn to get off at the wrong stop at Sienna’s command and risk as Daniel put it “rape with chain saws” walking through the projects as some call it. back to the cobble stone road with the red brick building.
That night we watched the classic Simpsons “Hell hole” episodes on Enoch's computer, and I wondered if our trip would have been different if different people had come? Or did we have the right people at the right

2009-03-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

So I did a little research on the Omnibus Appropriations Act that Congress recently passed, hoping to find out exactly what it involves. What I found didn't surprise me a whole lot, but it did reassure me that the disgust I feel toward the way Congress produces legislation is well founded.

First of all, the purpose of the omnibus (or any omnibus bill) is to appropriate funding for the operation of the various government agencies, of which there are hundreds, if not thousands. The problem with this particular bill is that it contains over 9,000 earmarks. These include thousands and thousands of projects endorsed by various Senators and Congressmen, who are trying to bring home the bacon.

I often wonder if the financial crisis is as serious as our leaders are making us think it is, but I do know that it is a problem worthy of our concern (just look at the unemployment rate--it passed 8% this week). But this strikes me as the WRONG time for selfish politics, and it strikes me as corrupt and unethical to pursue earmarks in a bill that the President has to pass, in such a vulnerable time.

Only 8 Republican Senators voted for the omnibus, I am proud to say. But guess what? I compared a list of the voters to a list of earmarks and their sponsors, and almost every one of the Republicans who voted for the bill did so because he had millions of dollars worth of projects earmarked. Does this strike anyone else as corrupt?

Alexander (R-TN) - $6,623,000 - Formoson Subterranean Termites Research (Really?! Are they chewing up the economy or something? I may not be an economist, but this is not going to help the markets recover.)

Shelby (R-AL) - $800,000 - Oyster Rehabilitation (Are you serious?)
$819,000 - Catfish Genome (Yes, catfish)

The list goes on, and it just gets worse. It's like some sick joke.

I spoke to Senator Bennett from Utah today (who is one of my representatives) and asked him what business he had earmarking a one million dollar project to combat the "Mormon Cricket" in Utah. His response was that this was not corrupt because the money had been appropriated already, and had to be split up in SOME way, so he just grabbed a piece of the pie for Utah.

The Senator was actually very nice, and very eloquent, but I was thoroughly unsatisfied with his answer. I have an idea, and I think it is revolutionary. If there is one million dollars available in the bill for Mormon Cricket combatting, and $800k for Catfish Genome, maybe we should just reduce the price tag of the bill by $1,800,000? Is it that hard to figure out? And if our Senators aren't willing to do that, who do they think are? They can't act like they are forced to spend this money, like they are caught in a trap. Our Congress is wholly responsible for this massive legislative failure and they have caused a lot of Americans a whole lot of dissapointment.

Obama: Please be as good as you promised us all that you are; our other representatives are failing.

A Storm is Coming

2009-03-10T19:07:00.001-07:00

I thought it was appropriate for my first post to warn all of our readers about the war that is coming. No, its not a war against Zombies, but against something equally heinous. Monkeys.

The Humans recently found out that the Monkeys are not only capable of planning attacks on us, but they are beginning to take action. Not long ago Travis, a well known Monkey who has been featured on commercials and TV shows with a Human was one of the first to attack. He lashed out at a woman who thought they were friends, and ate her face and hands. She is in critical condition. This is not a joke.

A Monkey codenamed Santino, who has been captive in a zoo in Stockholm was another in an increasing number of guerrilla fighters, no pun intended. He spends his morning stockpiling rocks, so when observers come near his cell he can fling the rocks at passers-by in fits of rage, according to a New York Magazine article entitled "Chimps Stockpiling Weapons, Planning Attacks."

Whether or not you "believe" in evolution, you should thank God for it. While the Monkeys might continue to fling rocks and eat people's faces, we have AK-47s and chain guns. They've struck first, but they are a few thousand years behind the curve.

If you require more evidence, check this out:
http://community.atom.com/Post/The-Most-Disturbing-Animals-on-Earth/03EFBFFFF0182C7B8000800A5BDC5/

hills

2009-03-10T18:43:00.001-07:00

Once

2009-03-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

I have been lost in the woods once.