Jungle Ethics in Urban Planning

excellin'

I've been staring at an excel spreadsheet for more than the hours of a day. The show "24" based on my last day of life would be exceedingly crammed with figures. Not the figures of some ripped male or female FBI agent but that of the 00011111000010101010 variety. Maybe the similarities aren't right away, smash your face in obvious, but at least tonight in my slightly warped mind I am Jack Bauer.

on the way to institute

I love finding grafitti artists like this. I'm not sure if its categorized as gafitti if its done with a brush or maybe it is simply because there was quiet possibly the use of a deceptive element of 3am painting.

The Temper Trap

So there is a great band with like two songs in existence on the interweb and beyond. The song sweet disposition is one of those songs that you listen too over and over never getting tired of but hoping for more soon!

Only a Matter of Time

I got a calling today at church. I'm now the 1st councilor in the Young Men's Presidency and actually feel really good about it. Leaders get paid the big spiritual bucks to know where and how people should serve I guess. I start next week with no clue what to do.

Weird enough my first reaction was to call my old Young Men's President, Brother Potts, from back in the day and see what pointers he'd share with me. Also as I'm writing this I have LDS.org up telling me about my calling.

In the states we would use the scouting program but here it's the Duty to God thing. It seems really churchy, which is fine, I just liked scouting because it was more about skills and wilderness. It's going to be challenging to mingle exciting activities with the status quo of spirituality. I think I can be a good mentor and teach these kids things that they'll like and appreciate. Plus I will kill them at basketball cause they are rugby players. I can spin a basket ball on my finger and it will probably blow their minds. So if there are any of you out there reading this that have had this calling or some good general advice I'd appreciate it. More to come later.

Masters in Work

The future may hold a profitable and enriching career but the present has me paying out the ying yang to plow though books and their endless pages. That sounds like somewhat of a drab introduction for this edition of blogging but really I enjoy the crap out of reading these days. While I was at the University of Utah I had a full-time job on top of a nearly full semester, like many others of my friends have had too. So therefore you know the plight.

I liked to give the young kids with no jobs a hard time for their complaints about the stress and work load. Not to say they aren't working hard but to sa that they are making it that much harder to feel as though people like me would be able to float. Defense mechinizism are great security blankets.

I feel as though my educational career has panned out beautifully and I've attached myself to subject matter that I have become truly passionate about. Now though that I have the fortune of self induced unemployment allowing me to read and learn as much a I want. I find myself reading not just for what might be on the test but reading to increase my understanding, depth, and breadth. Hopefully there comes a time when I can speak as well as my mind works.

P.S. Just like the US bailout bill has grown to over 815 billion through the addition of pet projects and payment for votes, I kind of wish that if I could pay an extra few bucks to get an addition to my masters program so that not only could I be a master of planning but also something like master of damage, or awesomeness.

long time coming

There has been a transition in my life. I have let go of a lot of juvenile beliefs shrouded in uneducated guises and have been able to take a look at a lot of other definitions in my life. There have also been family issues that forced me to take a long hard look at versions of deity and morals wrapped up as package deals. I've learned that answers aren't only given in terms of specifics but that feeling is determinate of my personal beliefs. The better I understand how to feel the more I have grown. This might all sound like bullshit but for me at least there is truth in getting to know yourself and in wading through all the prepackaged hand-me -out answers or push button scenarios.

Moving past childhood, adolescence, puberty, post mission, and my early twenties into some version of maturity is like my eating habits. I eat too much and fast then miss eating what I just ate. My wife says that the people in Spain believe that Americans never taste their food because they have their next bite already on their forks. At least as a metaphor this works well with how I recently find myself slowing down and enjoying the life, love and especially friendships around me. To be able to debate life in an open minded way let a small piece of Christopher, Kelly, Katie, Jeremy, or anybody lately help define me.

By the way I have 3 callings and am loving my Mormondom.

SIDE NOTE:
Limbo...it feels more like overdoses of caffeine, ADD, and stagnation than bending over backwards for a prolonged time period. The decision for the next couple of years is coming and coming soon so right now I'm just trying to be creative on my own.

sweet...rain, katie, cocco

tonight was interesting and as we were serenaded by rain drops pounding and the sight of steam from coffee cups dancing the night of a storm in SLC seemed more palatable than a thousand summer nights before. if this were a dreamworld it would hold true forever that rain trumps the warm sun but as it is for just tonight the rain has surfaced as the dark horse winner. all our windows are open even though the temperature is dropping to the predicted 42. the cold feels as good as the people that cut themselves to feel alive, without the gross blood. my hand feels so warm to my nose right now and i actually got my stomach dropping at the thought of sweater weather. the night has meant something more though and i feel calm with the cold, enough that i feel the spirit of taking katie by the hand. i got to fulfill one of the age old tradtions of a man by being the one to warm the fingers and toes of my wife...sweet.

kelly's life is our vacation

here is my cute niece. the weekend was full of amazing views and beautiful weather but a storm was a brewing. the storm and furry of temper tantrums. these quickly burst my bubble as to what a cute kid experience was supposed to be. don't get me wrong i still love kids and especially my nieces and nephews but this was the first time i kinda had my fill. dylan, my niece, was great untill her parents got home. it was like with me and katie she didn't have defined boundaries and so took our impromto rules as law and lived by them. as soon as the parents were back she new exactly what to do to get what she wanted and did it. dylan has some lungs i'll tell you what. so overall the time with my family was amazing but i left a little scared. i mean think about it everytime you hold a baby the moment it starts crying we all hand it right back to mom...this is a system of highs with no lows. fools the mind. obviously though there is the joy of parenting with all the lows and highs, triumphs and defeats. i just got scared. but here's my cute neice.

Morgan William Clifford

I was ecstatic to hear the news that my good friends christoper and tasha had their baby boy without complication. babies flood everything and everyone with joy. so small and fragile but they mesmorize you without even opening their eyes. i held him for a while and thought what he would be dreaming about tonight and how the last 6 hours had totally redefined his entire perception and the way he'll dream from now on. this was the first time i have ever been close to an inner circle of friends for the event of a newborn. it felt great to show my friends that i loved them and their baby. it takes me a very long time to say those words but at the same time feels great to say so, when it's blindingly aparent. the kid has a great name and a bright future. this baby is definately not lacking in the social capital department, bing a clifford and all, but there has to be the crazy adopted uncles to give some some spice to life. my mission is now clear.

diesel ran off like a dumb-ass

last friday night kaie and i had a wonderful time out with some friends. we got back and our door was open and diesel was gone. the door sticks open but looks closed. katie and i were out looking for him till around 3am. i rode my bike for endless miles that night and had diesl's little face pop into my thoughts a couple of times..almost brought me to tears. katie and i both thought that we couldn't comprehend the feeling had diesel been a child. next morning at 6am we got up and made flyers at my work, then posted them till about 1pm. at that point i got a call and diesel was found. we went to pick him up and was told the story of how he was found by the mother of the boy not present. her song was with friends at 9th and 9th and they saw diesel almost get hit a few times in the street. the one boy against the jeers of his friends decided to save our puppy. he took the string out of his hoodie, tied it to diesel and proceeded to give up his bus ride home and walkto 30th south. this kid was 16 and what a great stranger! i missed my dog so completely but he was just having a grand ol time.

katie and me

I need a more recent picture of my wife that I'm in love with...photo shoot! The other night we talked. We talked about sweet things and our lives together and how we lived and are living with the world trying to define us while gripping onto what we think we are. Without saying too much and without spoiling a personal experience, in small words, talk is love and listening is faith in love. Sweet is my wife of character and spirit. We are so alike, to love each other for deeper, truer, reasons.

river days and river NIGHTS

The Colorado River starts out slow but gets rapidy 2 days in. The ride down is the part that gets you acquainted with 16 strangers. One of them shot a potato cannon at me, granted I had my bare ass taunting as a target. Katie and I have gone on alot of weekenders and it seems that there are weekend friends. So many people out there seek the limited access to another's company. It makes me uncomfortable to let that go, just doesn't seem right. Beyond my emotions though there was thrills I had yet to experience. The hikes through old Native Indian trails, the water fights, the rapids and nature. At one point the boat was rigged so that I had to put my feet on the very front of the boat and hold to some straps, I resembled a roles royce hood ornament smacking head first into some large 20 foot rapids. We did tip over once and a bunch of us were trown from the boat. My first thought was where is my wife...I turned around in the water only to see her giggling with excitement about the whole event. My wife the dare-devil and me Mr. Worry McShitshispantsalot.

i love minivans and running events

so the trip not only fused a bond between strangers and myself but also to a creation by the dodge car company known as the caravan...aka minivan. events like these are so tramatic yet so inspiring. the people trapped with me in that spacious and feature filled minivan for nearly 30 hours shared a wide spectrum of human drama. for that time at least we became fast friends. it's funny though how much of that time can be used to create a lasting friendship or forgotten and filed away as "ragnar relay buddies." I do know that for the people that are more or less constants in my life i forever see them with a little more insight and respect. this year my wife and i had ajoining legs in the relay and she passed the "torch" to me. i get very sentimental when i start a pursuit knowing that my wife is there to send me off and at the end to greet and admonish me. katie and i were interviewed at the end and probably made asses of ourselves in the ghetto fabulous way we're used to when the spotlight is on us, but whatevs.

raccoon update:
caught a baby...the others are being illusive. raccoons remind me of mini raptors. o and the night i wrote the last blog i stayed up till 6am defending my family from a raccoon that was digging through our ceiling and not deterred by me at all. if it showed it's face i would have dirty harried his ass all over the place.

raccoons, what the f

i am soo mad right now. its because i'm thinking about something annoying and potentially dangerous over and over. i have the sort of personality that likes to role play constantly hundreds of times a minute about whatever is around me or on my mind. so there's a varmint named raccoony living in my attic. my current fantasy involves the raccoon knocking through the attic door and about to sink his teeth into my beloved dog deisel when i wakeup by the grace of my acute hearing accompanied by my other heightened senses and fly in with a knife from the kitchen to then assassinate the dastardly varmint. thousands of versions of this moment are available upon request. but man that thing was running around all last night above my head and i'm about to go nuts. the trapper is coming tomorrow morning...i thought the title of raccoon trapper had died in the old world. i guess somewhere a raccoon pelt is still worth a bag or two of corn nuts.

roll over...good boy...puke

last night was unbelievable. i witnessed the amazing persuasive power that my wife wields. in less than an hour she taught my dog diesel how to roll over. we tried it for days on end when he was younger with no avail. in that same hour katie also managed to teach him how to play hot and cold. the only downside to this condensed training was at 7am this morning when diesel decides to leave his be and get into ours every morning. he barfed up all his reward treats all over us. the moral of the story being you can teach an old dog new tricks but you turn them into bulimics in the process.

memorial hay-day

i gambled away 3 perfectly good dollars. i know i'll never win because the gambling gods as well as regular god would prefer that i not have luck or get addicted...fyi i am addicted. 3 dollars doesn't sound like much but originally i only had one to play with. one of the others came form my wife who didn't want to play hers and the last came from begging. so the ugliness of the sport has come about in the short amount of time it took to gamble away 3 dollars. this continued, at least the desperation until we were a couple miles away from the glitzy doors of the mesquite casinos.

other than that i had a wonderful weekend hanging with our good friends the cliffords. we got to know them a lot better and it was fun being able to talk deeply on almost any subject. sharing moments with my wife and our friends on the top of a mountain looking out over two separate valleys and into the beginning of the grand canyon national park were serene and entirely memorable. i have gained a real appreciation for the beauty of the desert.

let him eat cake

so i came into work today to find a giant piece of cake sitting on my desk. it has three little signs sticking out of i that said great job. since there are some many wonderful things i do well i was understandably perplexed as to by whom and for what reason i was being congratulated. i'm a sucka for the sweet stuff and pinched a couple pieces off before i went to actually get a fork from the break room. my boss comes in about 2 hours later and starts telling me about the cake. apparently she got it 2 days ago at a city council meeting and took a piece home but forgot it on her dashboard. she brought it in today and felt bad about wasting it and decided that giving it to me was a better alternative...she was right...i ate it. the center was actually pretty ok.

in a while...

it has been a while. lots of hectic stuff but nothing of note really. i guess i've got to get back into the habit of finding the little interesting things or putting spins on the mundane. a lot of the time i seem to forget my experiences. this happens through inaction and not taking the time to dissect what has gone on. life seems to be self preservation formed in our own minds. but then if i really believe that ideology i need to clean out the ol' cobwebs and get back to the basics of me and express that in words. so, me=mike.

Katie and I hung out with a friend that likes the hobo living in south america. she comes by every eight months or so and spends a day or two with us. i think out of town guest are soemtimes the most fun. they always seem to pack in as much stuff with the most variety into an evening thatn any native city dweller would think of. To monika's credit though she doesn't do things touristy. she had goals and we didem. She was passing through from arizona to jackson hole to work and in the roughly 48 hours she was here she knew about the bike collective ladies night on wednesdays, soul train for local music, hatches for some chocolate, and w lounge for a live dj. I wish i could come into a city and know things like that. anyway it was an interesting evening. i like when people come into my life every so often out of the blue...makes me pleasantly surprised happy.

NBA

i haven't been to an NBA game since i was 7 or so. my parents took me to a couple detroit pistons games the year they won the championship back in 88'. i went tonight to see the jazz win game 6 and the series against the houston rockets. my voice is gone and so i type. i haven't watched many sports in the past couple years or tv for that matter. i really like being apart of something big. it unifies you with the face painters, the fake boobed trophy wives, and my father-in-law. my wife was insanely cute trying to learn new basketball terms and then texting things like "are we the ones in the red or blue" to her fanatic friend. i think everyone likes a winner and more so likes to eat onion covered jumbo dogs while doing it...at least i do. you know as much as i loved tonight i'm pretty sure i couldn't ever become a fanatic. once in a while is sooo great. go jazz and what not. plus things like books, bikes, parks, exercise, yoga, friends, dance parties, and creative stuff are more at the top of my to do and want to do lists.