Awkward Conversations at the Walmart

Last week, I was wandering around the school supplies at the Lindon Walmart, when two guys kept looking at me like they knew me. As I walked past them, they greeted me enthusiastically, and we started to talk:

Them: Hi!
Me: Hi!
Them: You don’t remember us, do you?
Me: (Thinking hard to remember them) Not really.

At first, I was really embarrassed that I didn’t recognize them. Judging by the way they greeted me, we were supposedly good friends. I tried to think of all the places I’ve worked at, and of all the people I worked with, but I still had no idea where I would’ve met them.

Them: So, you’re still working here in the area?
Me: Well actually, I’m still finishing up school right now.
Them: Hmm. Well, it was good talking to you!
Me: Yeah, I’ll see you all later.

After the conversation was over, I’m sure they were probably more embarrassed than I had been.

Chickens: The Next Generation

On Wednesday, we went down to the IFA to buy our next generation of pet chickens. Since Easter was less than two weeks ago, our dove needed some friends, and our cats needed some animals to intimidate them, the decision to get chickens once again made perfect sense. But the main reason we got them is because they are so cute while they are little, and after they grow, they are so much fun to chase around. It’s also like having Easter all year round, since they lay eggs in the weirdest places, and you never know where you’re going to find one next.

Doveczynski greets the chickens with hostility.

When we got home with the chickens, we introduced the dove to our new pets. The dove actually liked hanging out with them. When we put it back into its cage, it kept going to the corner to get a better view of the chicks.

Well, the main reason we got the chickens was for entertainment. As soon as we bought the birds, Evan and his friends built them a home and an obstacle course out of old cardboard boxes. Of course, the birds were content with eating the food scattered around, and had no interest in traversing the course. They have it easy right now; in a month or two, I’m sure the kids will be throwing the chickens off the deck to see how far they can fly, and then chasing them back from the neighbors’ yards.

Doveczynski (aka Double-chinski) loves hanging out with the chicks.

In case you’re wondering about the first generation of chickens, last time we had chickens was over the summer of 2009, when each person in the family was given a chick for Easter. They were pretty cute, but as they grew, we realized that most of them were roosters. They would crow at our windows every morning at sunrise, and they surrounded anyone who would come to our front door. Neighborhood salesmen would always feel awkward when our swarm of roosters came up to them and pecked at their socks. Of course, they didn’t want to risk losing our business by kicking our chickens, so they would just stand there and take the pain. Surprisingly, only three chickens died over the summer, and we donated the rest of the chickens to the Thanksgiving Point farm once winter came.

An Evening at the Ice Skating Rink

Last month, I went with Elaine, Evan, Mom, and Dad to the Provo Peaks Arena for some free ice skating. It was pretty crazy because there were lots of people, and to make it even more exciting, the guys in charge of the event kept tossing out free tee shirts into the crowd.

Mom, Elaine, and Evan taking a break from skating.

The highlight of the night was when I went into the crowd to see if I could get a tee shirt for Elaine. I had just barely arrived when they threw the last shirt of the round into the rink (they threw shirts in every ten minutes). Somebody caught it, but luckily it flew right out of his hands. I just kept on skating through the crowd, picking up the shirt from the ground as I skated past.

Elaine and Evan getting into a brawl on the rink.

The funny thing was that the shirt was an adult XXL, so when I showed it to Elaine, it was like I was presenting her with a flag or some bed linen. Luckily, they still had plenty of smaller shirts, so Elaine was able to trade it in for a smaller size.

The End of Another Semester

Well, I suppose that the biggest news for me right now is that school is finally out! It’s funny how the semester seems to last forever, but in the end, it feels like it’s gone by pretty quickly. The past few months of school have been lots of fun. My favorite classes last semester were, by far, Geological Field Studies and Geomorphology.

I think that, when it comes to excitement, geology classes have an unfair advantage over other classes because of the many field trips we go on. Last semester, I spent a week at Alta Ski Resort and a week in Southern Utah with my Geological Field Studies class. It was so much fun being around friends all day long and exploring the mountains nonstop. Before the class started, I talked to one of the professors in the Geology department, and when I mentioned that I was taking that class, he told me that it would be my favorite class ever. I think he would’ve been right, if I hadn’t taken his Geology 102 course, where we met once a week and went on a bunch of road trips to various hiking spots.

Geomorphology was also a lot of fun. Our big field trip for the class was to Death Valley, California, so we spent the previous weeks studying RADAR and near-infrared images of the area. However, since the field trip destination was meant to be a surprise, we weren’t told that the images were of Death Valley, nor that we were going there for our three-day trip. Most of us knew where we were going though, because the students who had already taken the class let us in on the secret. Aside from the trip to Death Valley, I also enjoyed the class because the homework wasn’t too hard, and my professor and classmates were awesome.

I also took a music class to fulfill some of my last General Education requirements. I signed up because it seemed to be the least boring class out of all the Humanities courses. I had heard from other students that the class was really hard, but that the professor was a fun person and a great teacher. I guess they were right; the class always kept me entertained, even though my test scores were comparable to the scores I got on my Linear Algebra and Intro to Computational Theory exams. Luckily, because of the way the grading scale is set up, I will probably get a good grade anyway. I’m excited to take the other half of the class next semester.

Lastly, I took two Computer Science classes; Intro to Operating Systems and Programming Languages. They were both hard classes, but sometimes they were interesting in a nerdy kind of way. This semester, I had to learn how to program in C and in Racket, both of which were new languages to me. Even though some of our projects were pretty interesting, I think I will enjoy returning to a higher-level language and being able to show off my programs to the non-computer geek type.

Next semester should also be a lot of fun. I haven’t finished my schedule yet, but I think I will be finishing up my Geology minor and taking a few more Computer Science classes.

Chilling with the Bigwigs and the Green Police

At the beginning of this week, Deer Valley was celebrating its 30th anniversary by reducing their day passes to thirty dollars (I think the regular price is about $90). Figuring that it was the perfect opportunity to ski at a resort I’d never been to, I informed my family about the discount, and on Tuesday, we all took the day off to take advantage of some great Utah powder.

When we arrived at the resort, I knew we were in for some posh skiing. We arrived at the Deer Crest entrance right when the resort was opening for the day, so there were only about eight other cars in the parking lot. It was neat, because we didn’t have to walk far at all to get to the gondola (which was indoors, by the way) or the slopes. Once we were on the mountain, we took a few pictures at the top, and then we started skiing towards the main part of the resort. We didn’t see anyone else on the slopes for about ten minutes. Of course, it got more crowded later in the day, but since Deer Valley limits the number of tickets they sell daily, the crowds were nothing compared to some other resorts.

It also felt luxurious because Deer Valley is a skier-only resort, so we didn’t have to deal with snowboarders blocking the runs or speeding down the hills. In fact, most of the people on the slopes were old rich folk. Well, I think they were rich, unless they were just bargain skiers like my family. Anyhow, since they were old, they didn’t ski crazy, so I was never too worried about anyone wrecking into me. Plus, we only saw them once in a while, since the resort was pretty empty. It was funny though, because if we ever saw anyone, we could probably recognize them as someone we saw earlier at another part of the resort.

Awesome view of the mountains east of Deer Valley Resort

The views from Deer Valley were amazing, despite the fog that came in occasionally. One of the mountain peaks has views of Timpanogos, Heber Valley, and Jordanelle Reservoir, but that day, there were times that the trail disappeared into the gray horizon. I never was able to see Timpanogos because of the clouds, but the mountains around Park City looked amazing. The whole day, I was reminded of the geology class that I took over the summer, since we camped for a week at Alta Ski Resort. I was just glad that I could ride a chairlift instead of having to hike the mountains, and that I didn’t have to do any cross-sections.

While I was taking a few pictures, Emily and Elaine decided to take a break on the side of the trail.

As we skied, we saw a bunch of resort workers all over the place. I think they were training new workers, because they would hang out in groups, and they kept stopping on the trails to discuss stuff. It was funny to watch them ski, because they would follow each others tracks, like a bunch of ducklings flying down the mountain. Since they were all dressed in green Deer Valley jackets, we nicknamed them “The Green Police”, after a commercial we saw earlier this year. They were pretty awesome people though, despite their nickname. Whenever we stopped to look at a map, they would ask us if they could help us at all, and they even gave us suggestions on some of their favorite ski trails.

A group of Green Police discussing something on the hill.

It turned out to be a great day at the slopes, and everyone in the family had lots of fun. After all, it’s pretty hard to have a bad day when you’re skiing. I had fun exploring the resort for my first time, and the ski trails at Deer Valley were awesome. Hopefully they give more discounts soon so that I can go back!

A picture of me, with Jordanelle Reservoir covered in fog in the background.

The End [of School] Is Near!

It’s funny how you can tell that it’s close to the end of the semester by the topics of discussion in each class. I think that some of my professors are just as excited as the students are for Christmas break, because they seem to get sidetracked easier, and they are more concerned with being good comedians for the class. Of course, I’m not complaining; I actually enjoy the relaxed, jovial atmosphere in my classes.

Today, one of my professors spent a few minutes showing us how some of the hymns we sing at church can actually be good dancing and drinking songs. He started by singing and dancing to a small part of the hymn Master, The Tempest is Raging. I’m not very familiar with that hymn, but I still had a good laugh when I saw my professor swaying to the song. Then, as if that wasn’t enough comedy for us, he later sang a few measures from Have I Done Any Good, but he sang it as though he were drunk. When he got to the chorus, he slurred his voice even more, sang louder, and pretended to be swinging a mug of beer. Man, it was quite a sight! It made me think of how funny it would be to round up a few friends for a beverage party (non-alcoholic, of course) and sing a few “drinking hymns” around the table. I don’t know, would that be a bit too blasphemous?

November 2010 GPS Challenge Report–Orem Foothills Hike

On Thanksgiving morning, I decided to explore the foothills above North Orem after picking up the daily newspaper (to look for Black Friday deals later). I have actually hiked around the hills quite a bit as I look for geocaches, but the area I chose for this hike was new to me, and it had many geocaches that were just waiting for me to find.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with geocaching, it is a fun hobby where you use a GPS receiver to find hidden caches. Each geocache contains a visitor log, and sometimes they also have small toys, souvenirs, and trackable coins that can be traded. I enjoy searching for geocaches because I’m able to explore neat places in the process, whether it’s a new part of town or less-known spots in the mountains.

Most of the geocaches in these foothills are hidden under rocks and branches, or they are disguised and hung on the trees. This one was pretty easy to find because of the abnormal stack of rocks, and because there were no leaves on the trees to hide it.

I parked my car on a cul-de-sac near my home and ascended the hills from there. I only had to hike about a half of a mile to get to the first geocache, which I was able to find pretty easily. I wasn’t able to find the second one I visited though, even after reading the hints. I bet I might’ve found it if I had brought a flashlight with me, but I left it at home, expecting the moonlight to be bright enough. I gave up after five minutes and went to a third geocache, which turned out to be a pretty easy find.

A picture of Orem with Utah Lake’s East Bay and Mount Nebo in the background.

Even though I was only able to find two geocaches, the spectacular views of Utah Valley and the mountains made the hike lots of fun. Before this hike, I hadn’t gone on an early morning hike for several years, so it was neat to see the city lights and the sunrise once again from up in the mountains.

A picture of Cascade Mountain, east of Orem. Provo Canyon is just below the snow line in the middle of the picture, and Squaw Peak Road can be seen as a white zigzag just right of the center.

After about two hours of hiking, I had to start making my way back to the car. I had to buy some pies for Thanksgiving, and I wanted to get to the restaurant before the good pies were gone. When I set my GPS to guide me back to the car, it told me that I was about one and a half miles away from it, and I was surprised that I travelled so far. Whenever I hike to several geocaches, I often don’t realize how far I travel from my starting point because I hike in a bunch of short segments (usually about a third of a mile between each one).

As I was hiking around, I found this random cairn at the edge of a small hill. I’m not sure if it marks anything significant.

As I was hiking around, I kept hearing weird high-pitched laughing noises coming from further up the mountain. It got me a bit nervous, because I didn’t know if they were coming from some sort of animal, or if they were a bunch of rowdy teenagers with weird laughs. I never found out what they were, but as I hiked further, I came up to a main trail that had fresh shoeprints and bike tracks in the snow. I guess there are crazier people than I am, because I don’t think I would ever ride my bike up a mountain with three inches of fresh powder on the ground.

After hiking for several hours along deer trails and through scrub oak, it felt good to get to a well-marked trail and see some signs of civilization (aside from the city views).

My hike around the hills was really enjoyable, despite the cold temperatures. The forecasts were all saying that the temperatures were going to drop to five degrees below zero, so when I headed out for the morning, I was wearing quite a few layers of clothing. Luckily, it had only gotten down to about five degrees in the city when I left, and I actually got hot as I was hiking. I could tell it was cold though, because my GPS screen would fog up from my breath whenever I looked at it, and it had some ice stuck on it as well. Also, my mom said that she could tell it was really cold just by looking at the pictures.

For those of you who are familiar with my neighborhood, it is pretty easy to find my house in this picture.

I had a great time on this hike, and it was a great way to start my Thanksgiving. My favorite part was being able to see the sun rise over the city. It was also neat to find some new and exciting places as I ventured. Well actually, they would probably only be exciting to outdoor enthusiasts like me. There were some neat groves of trees and a few interesting rock outcrops and rockslides. The views were quite awesome though, and I loved being able to see my house on the way back to my car. Actually, as I was coming down the mountain, my house was closer to me than my car.

Usually the tower of steam from the new power plant is not this tall, but it can reach pretty high on cold winter days. I could even see it rising above the buildings in South Orem when I bought the pies.

Also, for those of you who were wondering about the title, I’m writing this blog entry as a contest entry. Each month, DeLorme posts a new GPS challenge on their weblog and on their Facebook page. It’s a good excuse to dust off the GPS receiver and head for the hills. They also add the element of excitement, since they give a $100 gift card to one lucky participant who completes the month’s requirements and posts their results. The odds of winning are pretty good right now, since I think they only have about twenty entries for November. It’s a pretty neat contest, especially for people like me who already enjoy using their GPS receivers to explore places.

This is the GPS track of my hike. I didn’t upload the GPX file onto the Internet because I think people prefer to hike on well-marked trails, but if anyone wants to download it, just let me know in a comment.

A Presidential Weekend

Last weekend was one of the most memorable weekends that I have had in a while. On Wednesday, I found out that Former President Bush was going to be in town on Friday for a book signing, so I did everything I could to make sure I could be there and meet him. My original plan was to show up sometime after midnight on Friday morning, but after hearing that there were already a hundred people in line on the nine o’clock news, I decided that I should get there as soon as possible. When I told Mom that I was going to sleep over at the Costco in Sandy, she didn’t hesitate to inform me that I was crazy. Elaine and Evan had a very different reaction though, and they were both begging Mom to let them come with me. I ended up going with Eric, who decided to come because I would have fifteen uninterrupted hours to help him with his programming projects (which we were able to finish with plenty of time to spare).

Sleeping out at the Costco was almost as exciting as meeting the President, in my opinion. When we arrived there, they were moving everyone in line to the entrance garage area. Eric and I didn’t know if they were going to lock the people in there, so we ran as fast as we could so we wouldn’t have to sleep outside. Luckily, they didn’t lock the doors, but instead the store manager showed everyone how to open the large garage doors, just in case anyone would need to do so.

We arrived just in time to listen to the Costco manager’s short speech. He basically just welcomed us to the line (which drew quite a bit of applause) and taught us how to enter and exit the building, and then he told us that we would be getting a medical test from the Secret Service the next day.

It’s funny waiting in line at a store, because nobody knows each other at first, but everyone eventually becomes friends. Even those who brought laptops eventually ended up socializing with others (I guess even Facebook gets old after several hours). The people sitting by Eric and me were pretty awesome, and one of the ladies there even bought us each a Sausage McMuffin when breakfast time arrived. One of the people there said that it felt like a Tea Party gathering, which I guess made sense, since I’m sure most of the people there were republicans. The best part, though, was watching the news later in the day and recognizing all of the people that were interviewed. For example, one of the ladies that they interviewed actually had her cot fall apart on her as she slept (which was really loud and woke most of the people up). They also interviewed the crazy lady who later directed us in singing The Star Spangled Banner as we were being passed through security. Then there was also the funny kid who followed the cameraman and tried to be in the background of every video clip.

A picture of a Channel 5 News clip. And yes, that is me on the right edge of the video. None of us in the background wanted to get interviewed, since we had stayed up all night and were not the most coherent. So to avoid the media, we pretended to have an exciting conversation. I couldn’t embed the video here, but you can visit this news article to watch the news story.

There were also several funny things that happened as we waited in line. Everyone around us had a good laugh when a group of Chinese people showed up around 3:00 AM and tried to get in line at the front. Those who were at the front kept telling them that it was the front of the line, and that they would have to go outside and around to the back side of the building to find the back of the line. They kept pretending not to understand, but eventually they gave up and found their spot at the back of the line. Also, the Costco workers kept telling us that we would have to get a medical test from the Secret Service, which made everyone nervous, especially with all of the news about the TSA airport pat-downs. Luckily, the only test we had to go through was walking through the metal detectors. I think the Costco workers just heard “”medical” instead of “metal”, and they passed the false information on to us.

I probably didn’t get interviewed by the media because I kept snapping photos of them as they were trying to broadcast. I took this picture around midnight, so that’s why everyone is still awake in the picture.

Even so, the Costco workers and manager took really good care of us in line. For those of us near the front of the line (my spot was #113), they let us stay inside the entrance garage overnight. They also checked up on us every few hours to see if we were comfortable, and they even turned on the heaters for us a few times during the night. For those who were further back in line, they put propane heaters to keep them warm. They also had outhouses available for us, and even brought cookies and bottled water to everyone in line.

Eric in line with a bunch of other Bush fanatics. This was right before they gave us our wristbands.

Meeting the President was also quite the experience. I’ve seen him so many times doing interviews and giving speeches on television, so it was weird to see him relaxed and having fun at the book signing. I guess it was probably easy for him to feel at ease, since nobody in line was “dressed to impress.” Many of us near the front of the line looked like freezing zombies, and some of us even had some good bedhead. The person in front of Eric and me in line told the President, “We’ve been waiting in line all night to see you,” to which President Bush responded, “In this weather? Where’s your jacket?” The guy had gone home to shower and change into more presentable clothes, but didn’t bring a jacket or anything when he came back. When I got to the President, he gave me a friendly greeting, saying “Hey buddy, it’s great to see you!” I then told him that it was great to see him too, and I told him thanks for a job well done and for keeping our country safe. After shaking his hand, I went to pick up my two copies of his book, Talking Points, and that ended my day of meeting the President. On the way out though, Eric and I walked past Ben Winslow from Fox 13 News, who was about to start interviewing people as they left the secure area.

Oh, and after I got back home, I decided to take a nap at 4:00 PM, and I didn’t wake up until 8:00 AM the next day. That’s sixteen whole hours of sleep!

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Coming Soon: Discovering Your Planet

As always, I’ll start out this blog entry by stating the obvious; I haven’t posted anything for a long time. I have several hours to spare right now, so I decided that it would be a perfect time to post something.

Well, right now I am at the Rock Canyon Trailhead. I came to the school with Eric so that I could do my biology reading assignment at the lab while he went to class. I was able to finish my reading pretty quickly though, so I decided to come to the trailhead, since I like being outdoors and there aren’t tons of people here today (because of the cold weather). Speaking of Rock Canyon, I made a fake video documentary of the geology of Rock Canyon with Matt Palmer, who is a friend from the ward taking several geology classes with me. The video is called Discovering Your Planet, and if you’re a geologist (or even if you just think about what we are saying), you’d find our analysis both worthless and hilarious. We are almost done editing the video, and it should be ready to be released sometime this week. We are planning to have a video premier party soon, and I encourage everyone to come, since it’s a really funny video. If you’re not able to make it though, I will upload the entire film after its release party.

Several more episodes are also in the works. Two weeks ago, we analyzed the geology of Dry Canyon near my home in Lindon. Hopefully I’ll find some time to edit it, once I get a break from school. We are also planning to document our hike to Timpanogos Cave this weekend, and we will also be filming in Goblin Valley next month.