The J Murph Chronicles

Jeff Occupies Wall Street!

2011-11-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

I had an opportunity to go down to NYC this week. My friend is interning with a federal district court judge, and that judge was going to be sitting on the Second Circuit Court of Appeal to hear arguments this week. It was perfect day to take a field trip!

We took the train down, and got to the court house.

The court room was really cool and ornate, and it was great to see some arguments. A third year student from NYU was probably the best orator we saw, he was really impressive.

Arguments ended around 4pm, and it just so happened that the Occupy Wall Streeters were planning to meet for their march across the brooklyn bridge at 5pm, right in front of the court house. With an hour to kill, however we decided to walk down to Zuccotti Park to where all the "occupiers" were hanging out.

The place is surrounded by police barricades, and it looked a lot like a petting zoo. The sheep inside the gates, bleating on and on about who knows what and people gathered around them, taking pictures, but taking care not to get too close to the wild animals. Hats off to the NYC Public Works department, as they cleaned up the place really well, and I couldnt smell any of the human feces and rat droppings that had apparantly been littering the park a few days before. I got some video of some of the people at the park.

These people were just standing around this tree, humming. They kept doing this for the whole time we were there (around 30 mins) and im sure they had been doing it a long time before and long time after we left.

This guy was just rambling on and on about who knows what! at one point he said that JFK had called for the assassination of MLK... odd. **warning: watching this video will make you dumber**

There were police all around the occupation, and i spoke with a few of them. They mostly just laughed at the "protesters." I asked them if they were getting overtime, and every officer i spoke to said "yes" with a big smile. It seems to me that the protesters actions are doing more to waste money than the big business they are protesting are.

We made our way back to the courthouse to see the rally there. As we made our way back, I was handed several signs and posters. i was wondering where on earth these homeless people got the money for such nice posters, but upon further inspection i found that they were provided by the AFL-CIO. not surprising. here is me, doing my best to look like a 99%er.

You can see behind me, where all the people were gathering getting ready to march across the brooklyn bridge. Around this time, the police started shutting down the sidewalks, so it was around this time that my buddy and I got the heck out of there. I hand off my sign to some students, that were very into the cause.

We decided to walk up to little italy to get some dinner before taking the train back to Albany, but as we passed through Chinatown, we got caught up in a heavy stream of occupiers. It was pretty exciting.

You can see i was doing my best to fit in with the rabble rousers.

Finally they all disappeared and we ate dinner, went to penn station, waited for our train, got on the train and headed back to law school, where we are preparing to become part of the 1%. And we managed to do that without a single instance of civil disobedience!

One Great Weekend, Return of the Greyhound.

2009-10-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Oh, Boston. Responsible for greatness. Like this. And this. Some of the best ballads ever. But you didn't come to Chronicles today to hear about an aging rock band, but for the dramatic finale of One Great Weekend! and what a finale it is!

My day started on Sunday October 11, at 5:30 AM when i turned off my alarm and laid back down on the hardwood floor i was sleeping on. My day restarted at 6:42 AM when i woke up with a jump and realized i had 18 minutes to get to a bus stop almost 80 blocks away.

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So i quickly threw everything in my backpack, put on my soon to be NLCS Champion Dodgers tshirt and bolted out the door. I looked silly in my basketball shorts, my disheveled hair and black rim glasses as i ran through the streets looking for a cab that was going my way. Luckily a yellow cab took pity on my haggard state and pulled over. When i told him where i needed to be and when i needed to be there, my poor Pakistani chauffeur was a bit taken aback, and politely let me know that the chances of me getting to the bus on time were as about as good as the chances Barack Obama would win the Nobel Peace prize after 8 months in office and not much to show for it. Who would guessed those odds were pretty good?!? and i made it to the bus just as the last people were getting on. Sadly my good friend Garrett didn't make it to the bus to join me in Boston, so it was just me and some kid who seemed really thrilled to be sitting next to an unshowered, kinda sweaty and pretty out of breath weary traveller for the next three hours and change.

The trip was pleasant and i got to see states id never seen before! lets let google show you my route!
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look at all those miles!

I finally arrived in Boston, and i was definitely under dressed... basketball shorts and a tshirt are no match for weather in the low 60's, especially for a wussy CA boy like me! luckily i only had to wait in the bitter cold for a little while when my old coworker and good friend Ryan picked me up. He took me back to his house where he lives with his wife Piper, who i grew up with in Rancho Cucamonga. They have a great apt in the south side! it was fun to catch up with them, and go on a grand tour of Boston!

Our first stop was in Cambridge, where we saw a grand parade of all sorts of hippies! here you can see Ryan and me and in the background some of the stuff they were carrying around at the parade.

We went to Harvard too.

You can tell i was really excited to be there! Ryan told me some good will hunting joke, but since i have never seen that movie, i had no clue what he was talking about... but i really felt intellectual, almost transcendental, so i needed something to push me over the edge...

so we went to Walden's Pond!
The place where Walden wrote one of the best works of literature/best sleep aids known to man. we paid homage to the man of many words in the best way we knew how. By imitating a statue erected in his honor.

I often wondered what compelled Thoreau to move out into the middle of the woods and live in a shack for two years. i wondered if it was the trees, or the ants, or just the close proximity of a sparkling pond nearby that gave him adequate privacy to skinny dip... but the real reason was the absolute comfort he lived in.

I don't know if it was the fact that i had slept on a hardwood floor the night before, or that i had only slept on that floor for about 4 hours that made this old dirty bed so comfortable. i woulda stayed there longer but I'm sure the park service didn't want me trancendentalizing much longer on my man Henry's bed.

we walked down to the pond, which was remarkably very clean! and beautiful! No amount of words could describe that setting (i know this because Thoreau tried... and he has a long book that doesn't quite do it justice....)

Piper and I at Walden Pond.

We then walked through Back bay and the Garden and Boston Commons. The locals (ryan and piper) tell me this is the most photographed locale in Boston!

Little did you all know that me and Ryan had started a business together.

Ryan Johnston and Jeff Murphy.

We walked through the downtown, i saw the State House, with its real gold dome, Samuel Adams' grave, and the oldest marketplace in the US! Boston is an old,almost ancient place, but unlike most old things, its clean, smells nice and serves a purpose in society.

That night we ate at Rob Lowe's favorite pizza place, Pizzeria Regina! it was really delicious, so delicious Danny ainge even likes it. See there i dropped two big names, so you know its good!

early the next morning, i had to leave Boston and make the trek from Boston to dc... one last time we will let google show you...
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I really enjoyed my stay in Boston and i want to go back for longer than 20 hours next time. Boston seems like a big city that is actually livable. NYC on the other hand is a nice place for the weekend...

the trip back wasn't too bad. i rode the greyhound from NYC back to DC and even got on an early bus out! our bus driver was pretty hardcore though. he told us if we broke the rules he would have no qualms about pulling over and kicking us out in the middle of nowhere. Also while he was giving his spiel these ladies were chatting to each other and he stopped what he was saying and told them to shut their mouths until he was finished talking. it was pretty exciting, i made sure to mind my p's and q's... but other than that, no strange odors and no coughing. i still wont ever "go greyhound" again.

so i feel like i really made the most of my long weekend. It was tons of fun and great to get out and see the many many many things there are around this country! I look forward to more great weekends while I'm here and ill keep you posted on the jmurph chronicles.

Touch My Body (Tuts My Barreh) / Karaoke Fail (English subtitles)

2009-10-14T21:28:00.001-07:00

One Great Weekend. Part Duex.

2009-10-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Okay so, 11 oclock rolls around and its time to do some more touristy stuff! so we decided to hop on the subway and head downtown and see the statue of liberty! well, we got off a little too early, but we ran into a bunch of fun stuff that we intended to see, but hadnt planned on at that moment!

We saw the bull on wall street! heres hoping to a bull market!

As you can probably tell, thats not me. In fact i dont know who that is. I googled a picture of the bull because mark took all the pics of us there and im too lazy to get them from him right now. Just imagine thats me pointing at the bull, as you all know i would.

we walked by ground zero, and the trinity church from national treasure and then went over to battery park. i always imagine battery park was called such because people were battered there... i dunno why but thats just what i conjured up in my mind. anyhow we looked to see if there were some tickets to the island, but it was a no-go so we took the staten island ferry instead!

heres some fotos from the ferry!

Anyhow, that was fun. and then we went to lunch at this place really specific to new york city. Its got this garden of olives, and they have a deal where you can get unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks for around 10 bucks. Im sure you all wish you had one of those in every city in america! after our tasty repast, it was off to hunt for tickets to some shows! being the shrewd students we are, we looked for the best deals in town. we managed to find a bunch of tickets to mary poppins for 35 bucks and one ticket to chicago for 35. so i took the chicago ticket and a bunch of the other interns went to mary poppins.

Chicago was really good, great dancing, the music was incredible... it was a bit racy at times, but it truly is broadways "sure thing". very entertaining, all that jazz.

so we stayed at my roommate devin's old college roommates apartment uptown. it was really nice, in a quiet part of town. it was nice to be able to lie down, especially after going strong for about 36 hours...

the next morning, i had a chance to sleep in a little bit and walk around downtown. i went to all the box offices to see who was selling student tickets on the cheap! we went to a matinee of "finians rainbow". it was a fun show, with good music and a lot of jokes that were funny now, even tho the play was first put on in the forties(you might wanna check wikipedia on that one). we got box seats for cheap!

It was a really good show, i highly recommend it!

After that we went to another local eatery that claims when youre there its always friday! isnt that charming?! why dont these restaraunts branch out!?! anyhow after that we went to see Shrek! it was also very good, with great production value! the set was outta this world and king farquahd(sp) was really funny! hes on his knees almost the entire show! it was a great sight gag!

here you can see shrek advertised on the screens in times square! it was fun and we had a good group of us there. I woulda posted the group photo, but once again laziness overcomes me and i dont know who has it anyway... after the show we hungout around town and went home to prepare for our next big day. Just like im going to now! till next time,stay tuned for the conclusion of our thrill-ogy, One Great Weekend.

One Great Weekend. Part I

2009-10-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

So our usual Friday class got cancelled, and thanks to that evil man who gave all the indians small pox and discovered America (and as my friend ben pointed out hes a member of the church by proxy...), I got to enjoy a four day weekend! What better way to spend 4 days of freedom than by going up north to NYC and Boston!?!? It was very specatacular and i will do my best to capture all the joy i had on this trip in a simple blog...

My friend Mark Williams and I decided to leave Thursday night/Friday morning (depending on how you look at it) and take the 1:00 am bus to NYC.
On our way to the bus station, we ran to our fair share of hooligans...

This is how I learned lesson #1- Dont ever do anything a drunk person tells you.

Here we can see the wine-bibbers in their natural habitat... the last train outta metro center... anyhow they asked me to slap their catatonic looking friend in the face to wake him up. i wasnt about to be a part of that, which led the ringleader to remark "look a little more manly with those signs...." What signs you may be asking? Why the signs we had made in order to get us on the TODAY Show!!! and thats why were taking the late/early bus, so we could arrive just in time for the taping!

so we got to the greyhound station, and there is already about 25 people in line, including a group of korean students, who dont even know im spying on them and translating to mark. Anyhow the bus finally arrives and about 20 people get off and get in the reboarding line... now im starting to get nervous. The line starts moving and we get closer and closer. finally we get to the front and the bus driver takes our tickets and the tickets of two people behind us and we get on the bus! when we get up there, there are no seats, except for a big bench of three in the very back. so i walk back there and sit down and as i breath in, my nose is stung with the vile stench of port-o-potty... which brings me to lesson #2- dont be the last one on a greyhound bus or else you will have sit in the back and it smells like pee. After i learned that lesson i figured i had learned enough and stopped writing down the life lessons i was learning.

Mark was lucky enough to sit right next to the bathroom....

The bus ride went well with just a few hiccups, like how everyone was coughing like they had the swine flu, how everytime the bathroom door opened i wanted to barf and the time i woke up and thought mark had been replaced with someone else. We arrived safely to NYC and the first thing i did was wash my hands, there is no telling what kind of germs i contracted! then we headed over to rockefeller center to get ready for our national tv debut!

Heres me with my sign (created by the talented mark jensen)!

so we got there around 615 and the TODAY show started taping at 7. around 7:20 al roker came out and said hello and i yelled and hooted and hollered and at around 7:40 Al set up the shot right in front of us AND- lets go to the tape!

Pretty much awesome.

So we hung out at Today for a while, met and shook hands with all the anchors. When Meredith Viera came out i asked her for a kiss! and she gave me a peck right on the cheek! they were all really nice and it was a great experience! i would do it again in a hearbeat!

after the today show we went over to a really neat Cathedral called St Peters(?)... anyhow while we there i saw the archbishop walking around with some dudes in suits. I walked over to get a better a look and much to my surprise there was Elder Richard G. Scott and Elder Jensen!It was pretty cool to see them and talk with them for a little bit. Usually when you see general authorities they are being thronged in much the same way me and mark thronged them, but there is just more people. they were really nice and it was a great experience! so when that was all done it was about 10 am and it was time to do more! but right now its 12:45 and its time for me to go to sleep! there will be much more to come! stay tuned!

2009-10-13T20:28:00.001-07:00

I have a lot to write about, but first this gem, brought to you by Eddie Barfield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXxvsShaAoA&feature=player_embedded#

Things to do in "The District"

2009-10-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

The best part about living in DC is that there is a ton of stuff to do. But even with all that stuff, its still like Provo cause its often hard to get anyone else to do it with you. Luckily I have found somef fun people that like to go on adventures! Here are some highlights.

#1. Baseball

Now, Washington is definitely a football city. It seems that most people eat, sleep, and die Redskins. Even if they lose to the worst football team in the league (which technically cant happen since teams cant play themselves....) people still cheer for them and pay a ton of money to do so. Anyhow, my point in all this is, the Nationals are awful. And because of their sheer pitifulness, no one goes to their games, so you can buy a cheap 5 or 10 dollar ticket and sit way close and enjoy a good game of baseball.

I got to see the Phillies, the Braves and the team with the best record in the National League, the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers!
Here me and Aubrey are at Nationals field. She agreed to come to the Dodgers game if I went to the Braves game...

Here is my man Man-Ram. Steroids and all, I love him! He ain't Albert Pujols. Thank heavens.

the game was fun, and exciting, but here's how it ended up.

Dodgers lost...

And then at the Braves game, the Nationals lost and Aubrey was so excited cause the team of her childhood won! I granted her permission to roll.

Oh and the best part about the games is this.

#2 Eat.

There are a lot of great places to eat here in our nations capital. besides the obvious McDonald's and Burger Kings that are a staple of every Americans diet, there is a myriad of eclectic and special foods! Even heads of state like our very own Barack Obama eats food in The District. One very unique place to DC is Ben's Chili Bowl and it is real good!

The thing to get is a half smokey, as seen below. Its a sausage covered in chili with onions and mustard! and it is tasty and delicious. When President Obama ate here he had a half smokey with cheese fries... i am almost presidential in my meal.. but not quite.
This had me saying mmm mmm mmm! Barack Hussein Obama really liked this place for good reason!

Kelli, Mara (like Sara) and I were just ecstatic!

Kit here (with Britney) was amazed at how much i could eat! He didn't think i could finish such a large meal but somehow i got it all in!

#3 Dancing.

Most people know I'm from the mean streets of Rancho Cucamonga, and i have seen a lot of moves in my day. But i am amazed everyday by the incredible dancing of the people of DC. here Mara demonstrates the 'jerk'. I'm pretty good at it. but i wont bore you with pictures of me making a fool of myself.

#4 People watching, and becoming subjects of people watching...

subways are a great place to find people and for people to find you!

If you make a face like this:

people like this will look at you strangely:
Similarly, if you take a picture over you shoulder at just the right moment, you may catch the person behind you looking at what they just found in their nasal cavity.

And finally if you look like this and you are sitting in front of the white house, I will take a picture of you.
(I heard this was the African doctor that signed President Obama's birth certificate.)

Anyhow there are lots of other things that i am doing besides these subversive activities, I promise. But in the meantime i hope you enjoyed your stay here with the Chronicles and check back often for more excitement soon!

Where I Live/Work

2009-09-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well I have been in DC for a month, so I figure I let you all know where I live and work.

First off, I live at the Barlow Center! It's a cool place for cool kids, but occasionally they let in riffraff like me! If you want to send me mail or a care package (because you care), its 2520 L Street NW #308, Washington, DC 20037! Anyhow here is my room -

The door on the left is to the bathroom me and my roomie share. Further left of the picture is our fridge and microwave. you can see that little yellow box? thats my plastic silverware. I havent had to wash a dish the entire time ive been here. and i dont plan on doing any the rest of the time i here either.

Heres my desk and my bed is on the left... they make sure we are living in style as you can tell. I have a good view of a parking lot out the window... although every now and then a cute intern takes the trash out of one of the buildings next door every now and then. She has nice shoes.

I work at the Federal Judicial Center, in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building. Heres a picture -

Security is surprisingly pretty tight where i work. I have to go through two security checkpoints! i feel pretty legit as a federal employee. if you plan on attacking me make sure you do it when im not on official business or you will be convicted of a federal crime. boo ya.

I work in a cubicle with a UTE. Sounds awful i know, but we get along pretty well. in fact we are the only people that talked for the first 3 weeks of the internship... but little by little things are getting more lively. Except this one intern that does web and automation. I dont know what his problem is. He always wears inappropriate clothing and uses vulgar slurs. but its great!

I have two chairs. and a headset.

Anyhow its a great time to be an intern! come out and visit and ill show you how i run this city like jay-z.

Washington DC/Philly

2009-09-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I have been in DC now for about three weeks! It feels like I have been here forever! First off let me show you where I live.
My roommate is named Barack Obama, but we just call him Barry. Anyhow, DC is great and i have been enjoying myself! Recently, we took a trip up to Philadelphia and Valley Forge. Valley Forge, as you all know is the place where nothing happened of consequence during the revolutionary war. Washingtons army stayed there during the winter, which was very mild, and no one was shot, or froze to death. No one even died of smallpox. Pretty lackluster stuff eh? It rained most the time we were there but i will show you some highlights!

This glorious abode is the place where George Washingon lived during the stay at Valley Forge. It is the only thing original still at Valley Forge. It was a pretty nice little home if i say so myself.
After touring Valley Forge, we went back to our where we were staying and had dinner and then had a friendly visit with General Washington. He should a girl in our group to do the minuet.
We stayed overnight at some dorms on this complex near Valley Forge and in the morning we went to Philadelphia, PA.

Our first stop was the Liberty Bell.

Then we went across the street to, as our tour guide called it, the most historic building, in the most historic square mile, in the most historic state in the country; Independence Hall.

Heres where they wrote the consitution. Pretty sweet. I later climbed up on the roof and found a pair of spectacles that illuminated the path i needed to take to find a national treasure.

Following our tour of Independance Hall we were free to do whatever we wanted. and so I did what i usually want to do.

now you see it.

Now you dont.
we went to Jims and had the phillycheesesteak with cheezwhiz and onions. It was quite a delectable treat. as we left, the line was going out the door and wrapping around the store, so you know we made the right decision.

following that bit of greasy heaven, we did what most sane people would do when in the city of brotherly love, we went to the rocky steps and saw the rocky statue. But along the way, we were sidetracked! we were in a taxi and we look over and see a huge float and big parade of people surrounding it, so i through the money to the cabbie and we hop out of the car as we are stopped in at a light and go join the parade!

So the Hare Krishnas were having a huge party which included a free feast! but the feast had about 1000 people lined up for it... so Devin(my roommate) and I walk up to the people doing the feast and just start helping them. Eventually we get some plastic gloves and aprons and we end up serving the food at the hare krishna festival!

Heres Devin scooping rice.
I made Hare Krishna salad with this man. He went to CalPolyPomona and was engineer, went back to India, and now hes back in Philly.
FREE FEAST!
We did finally make it to the Rocky Steps. We ran to the top...

And then we punched Rocky for making us run up those steps.

I think city hall is the coolest building in Philly.
Well it was a fun trip to Philly and it has been great being here in DC. I will have to take some pictures of where i work and where i live so you all can get a good dose of what it is like out here! im having a blast!

A few things...

2009-08-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Ill keep this rant short, but it must be said!

First off, I dont understand the Mormon fascination with hats... not just any hat, but the 'newsie' hat if you will. I just dont get it... to me anybody wearing these hats looks like a dweeb who wishes they could hang on a light pole singing "Santa Fe"... Im just not really a fan...

What are you trying to hide under that floppy hat?

Second.

Why cant people pronounce 'h'? i had a companion that called it "Hay-ch"... that was ridiculous. but what really gets me is when people pronounce 'h' as a 'y'. I mean how does someone get yooman from human? or yooge from huge? the worst is when they call it yooooston intead of houston.... its an h... it makes a huh sound. i guess we are all yuman and its not a yuge deal, but ill have to see if they feel the same way i do in youston.

Third.

When youre in the left turn lane, pull out as far as you can in the intersection so that the other cars behind you can sneak in behind you on the three second green arrows that U-DOT feels is sufficient for rush hour traffic! I wanna go and the lady in the champagne camry sitting there behind the lines prohibits me from doing so!

anyhow thats my rant for today. Carry on good yoomans.

new sounds.

2009-08-01T00:45:00.001-07:00

ive been listening to some new music these days.... some of it you may like... other of it is pretty out there. heres a sampling.

Metric

The Books

shake your peace

Washington D.C.

2009-02-08T22:33:00.001-08:00

So, I got accepted to BYU's Washington Seminar program. I will spending next fall in Washington D.C. working in some government office as an intern somewhere, I am not sure yet though. Anyhow, at Thanksgiving I went to D.C. and had a wonderful time. Here are some highlights!

Bill is pretty excited for me to come to D.C. Here he is giving me some props!

Heres me and George Washington hanging out, he invited me to his house... (see below)

This is pretty self explanatory.

Me and Aubro at Mt. Vernon. We saw a movie about George Wafhington (they kept spelling with an 'f' there) and it was narrated by America's Sweetheart, Pat Sajak.

While we were touring that there house, this lady kept asking the docents where the bathrooms were, and was very suprised to find out there was no indoor plumbing at Mt. Vernon! She would not take no for answer and kept asking everyone she met. It was quite entertaining. So was her ensemble.
Another cool thing about Mount Vernon is that you can see G Dubs "teeth"...
These were pretty awesome..... but i cant say they would be comfortable!!!
Lincoln.
Wow.

Here we are at the Capitol. They were are already setting up for the inaguaration! It was pretty legit. There were a bunch of Korean dudes wrestling on the lawn in front of the Capitol too... oh good times!
I think this was the old Supreme Court.... but i can't remember. it was nice tho.

This is the scariest picture of Abraham Lincoln I have ever seen.

All in all it was a good trip. I ate chicken and waffles. One day I ate belgian waffles. And then popeyes after that. anyhow im super excited to go to DC this fall! its gonna be great!

My Trip to CA

2008-08-28T17:28:00.001-07:00

This Summer i worked at the BYU sports camps all summer long! It was a lot of fun, but once they were finished i got to go home to CA and have a few adventures! I ate the best food ever (In-n-out) about 10 times, i went to the beach, watched the dodgers lose, stalked celebrities and protected marriage. It was awesome! The picture above me is when we went to the dodgers rockies game! the rockies beat the dodgers by a lot... but it was fun nonetheless!

Andrew was getting down on a dodger dog... best hot dog in baseball!!! oh soo good!
The Kinneys really love hot dogs!!!
Im on the phone talking with Scout helping her understand the glory that is Dodger stadium... even if they cant win a game to save their lives!!!
Here are the lovely ladies that i got to go to the game with.
the guy in the black threw out the first pitch... he is a famous movie star... chazz something... he won an oscar maybe...
crazy cute!
This kid was a rockies fan and kept cheering whenever the rockies did anything good, which happened a lot, which made me even angrier. eventually the guy in front of them asked them where their seats were supposed to be... and they moved. Thank goodness, Punk kid!
Dodgers Stadium!

i went to the beach with ben and chris, it was a grand ol' time! look how tan i got! we stopped by ralphs and bought spf 4 lotion, thats why im so golden brown.

Ben and Chris.
Me, allison, and nancy had a little party... we are all a little socially inept.... nice braid allison!
Me and Kristen went to del taco among other things. there was a homeless guy on the otherside of the ordering thing... he scared me.
Then i went to the beach with the family! here is Kira, karli (sp), and Jared playing in the sand.
Jared didnt really like it when the tide came in on him... i thought it was kind of funny.
Here is julie and the kids!
Heres my mom enjoying the sand, the sun and the water and "the sound and the fury"
kira likes rootbeer!
This is brad. I was out in the water boogie boarding and he came up to me and asked me to help him catch waves... he was a funny kid and i helped him out... a couple times he wiped out and i hoped his mom wasnt watching...
I went to koreatown with merrill grady. we found Tank boys, the best frozen dessert ever!!!
bazledua and i went to a hangook food place for some heyjanggook. it was aight... when we walked in the lady ran up to us and was like " you want soup with noodle and beef..." i think she thought we didnt know what was going on so she was really surprised when we busted out the korean... i thought she was gonna have a heart attack!
heres me doing my best korean pose!
KIMCHI!!!!

here is what was left of the heyjjanggook... it was okay... ther was a lot of veggies and seemingly no meat. but it made me fulll.. but i did have INNOUT for dinner that night. so it made it all better!

after lunch, i realized i locked my keys in my car, so we called triple A and roberto or carlos, came and saved us!
he was from honduras, he was tight!

After hanging out with merrill and juan perro, i had a few hours to kill in LA before i picked up Ben to drive home with him the next day. so i did what anyone would do and i picked up a star map on hollywood blvd!
The first stop on my tour was American Idol Judge, Simon Cowell's house. He had a big fence all around his house and as i drove by i could have sworn i heard him say something negative!

Next on my star tour was Tom and Katie Cruises house. here is their gate. i thought about knocking on the gate and telling them i was a lost operating thaeton 3 in need of some bread and water. i wonder if that would have worked?

Then i swung by ozzy osbournes house. it was pretty fun, i smelled bats roasting on the bbq as i drove by.

akd

Next i went to britney spears house. i found her gate.

Then i went to Dinah Shores house. She's famous for being mentioned in adam sandlers channukuh song.

The last stop was at Jack Palances house. he was in city slickers and he hosted the original ripleys tv show. hes pretty great.

on the drive home i picked up a homeless hitchhiker. he told me stories of the road and other things.

i got kind of tired while we were driving. its a long one!

When i got back to provo i help the johnstons move! Ryan was pretty excited about the drive to boston he was about to embark on!

Goodbye Ryan and Piper! i will miss you guys!

And that sums up what i did in CA! i wish i had taken pictures of all the best food ever i had and the lucilles bbq i got to eat too! it was fun to be in CA with my family and INNOUT! i plan on having some more adventures up here at school! wont you join me!?

Barack Roll

2008-08-15T20:55:00.001-07:00

What I've Been Up To

2008-08-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

I havent updated my blog in about three months... but heres a glimpse of the things ive been doing these days. On my birthday i was in charge of FHE and we went to Rock Canyon Park and had drumsticks and went ice blocking. It was fun and we had a great time!
Here we are sliding down the hill...

Heres my home teacher Jared Foote going down skeleton style.
On Wednesday August 6, my buddy from my mission, Jacob Durham got married. I went to his reception in Salt Lake.
Then Cami Cadman was in Provo and gave me call and we hung out on BYU campus for a bit!
On Friday we went on a bit of an adventure up to my buddy twans cabin and into the mountains near walsburg.

Heres drew getting ready for his "exploding chicken"...
Twan was pretty excited to use chopsticks
The crew at the chinese place in Heber. It was pretty good.

Here I am getting in the mood to do some country bumpkin stuff. we were even listening to country music. About this time we saw a water tire and flag tire. pretty impressive.
Heres drew emptying his clip on an innocent sprite zero can.
If you vote OBAMA these guys win. ;)
Anyhow ive been having fun this summer. I will be going back to CA next week and hope to have lots of adventures there! i will try my best to keep you all posted!

NEW HOUSE!

2008-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well friends, i have a new house and boy oh boy is it awesome. first off the tub drains. QUICKLY. no more saturated ankles for me!!! and the tub is actually white tile and not covered in hair and soap scum! amazing who'd of thunk?! plus we have a dishwasher, which means the sink is not full of dishes and we have a washer and dryer which means i wont be as odorous! boo ya! my new roomies are a ton of fun too! they keep the house clean, dont have a ton of junk, dont pollute the apartment with noise! its wonderful here! i look forward to lots of fun adventures with these guys... as well as some settling of some bets/promises.... we got a taste of one of them tonight... shankstick prepped us for his casserole extravaganza!!! anyone got size 10 high heels? anyhow i love the new place and i am looking foward to the future!

Mad TV Can I Have Your Number?

2008-04-06T12:19:00.001-07:00

this is how you do it!

heart surgery

2008-03-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

when i came home from work today, and opened the door, i realized that i had interuppted open heart surgery in my living room. At least thats what i could only figure from the horrific glare i got from marshmallows when i when i walked in the door. either that or there was natural light getting into the house, casting a slight glare on his screen and possibly on his skin. I guess marshmallows swell up in microwaves, but maybe they melt in the sun's uv-waves? im not really sure, but i sure didnt appreciate the stare down that i got every time i happened to open the door. heaven forbid the dark lord gets his game interrupted for 25 seconds. who does he think he is to just take over the house, saying what goes, saying what doesnt go, regulating how long the door stays open... goodness gracious. im in college!!! i dont need someone regulating my every move, telling me what to do, or when i can do it! where does the orc master get the nerve to think that what he says goes? he doesnt control me! so next time i feel those beady, half open eyes.....staring at me i just might snap. oh man get this! on saturday after my basketball game... it was about 2oclock and i came home and sat on my bed and listened to some music and talked with shankstick. well all of the sudden the baby cow comes out of his room and just stands there, with his hands cocked like a raptor, eyes half open, for about 30 secs.... then he says "if only you knew what i was thinking right now" and then just walks away... it was quite the experience. to be honest im pretty sure i know what he was thinking. it was probably some strategie to get the orcs out of the frewun country side. or maybe it was open heart surgery.

2008-03-31T00:18:00.000-07:00

sometimes i wish i just fit the mold. i mean hillary fits the mold, guilliani fits the mold, europeans fit the mold, but i guess i just dont. I mean unlike hillary i know what it is to be called the n-word. i played football for 4 years.... i heard it every day. I have been passed up by a taxi b/c of my nationality when i lived in korea. I aint rich, i am white (ill give you that jeremiah), but i wouldnt call myself priviledged. but i guess im happy to say that there is a reverend down in south Cha-town that will endorse me for president because i dont fit the mold, just like barry hussein obama. anyhow moving on to bigger and better things, DUB 3 won their second game, ever! we beat some punks on saturday by 3 points which means that we get to play in the second round of the playoffs now! i got a really sweet block on this kid. i was standing on the edge of the and this kid (he was maybe 120 lbs) comes charging into the lane and as hes coming, i get set right in his way and he comes barrelling into me and next thing i know hes on his back on the ground, trying to remember what day it was. BOO YA! i was set and everything, but once again not getting the charge called on me! imagine that! but it was fun and we actually won so i was happy. next game is coming soon, ive been practicing my dunk! well its getting late. and i think ive said all ive wanted to say. i hope it stops snowing. that will be nice.

Hey Lyle

2008-03-26T23:11:00.001-07:00

oh man.

econ review

2008-03-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

so its been a long time since i posted here, so i hope this next post is worth the wait! Today i had to go to a review for my big Econ midterm this week. as i was walking to the jfsb i ran into a bunch of friends i hadnt seen for a long time and chatted with them, including my buddy addi who was also going to the review. so we walked to the review together and when we got there my other buddy alex had saved us a seat, so we went and sat next to him. this is when the trouble started. i dont know where our conversation took us buy it eventually led to my sticking my finger in the nasal cavity of alex. the rest of the review went downhill from there. being the studious student i am i naturally listened and paid attention while my buddy addi kept snoozing next to me, so i took it upon myself to make sure he was awake for this. I mean THIS IS ECON!!! its not like its some hfl test, this is important stuff! so i made sure he was awake by poking him repeatedly and asking him if he was awake intermittently throughout the class. im pretty sure on more than 18 occasions the whole class heard me checking on my friend. anyhow as we are struggling through this econ review, the heat of about 250 people is getting much to much for me to handle! so i raise my hand and ask if we can open some doors because "my marginal willingness to sweat is just getting outta control" to which i got some laughter and some kinda nasty stares. anyhow the doors are opened and life is able to be sustained once again in b190 JFSB. so the TA keeps going on and on about econ and how to deter drug dealers and prostitution, using terms like "a kilo" and "crack" and "powder" and "turning tricks" (okay maybe not that one), but she keeps us pretty entertained. when she starts talking about externalities she asks a question about how to find the dead weight to which i respond "taxes".... she was a little confused.. as was i obviously.... well i guess unless you've taken econ that would be an obvious wrong answer. anyhow the review goes on (this is a two hour one, its ECON for goodness sakes!) and she eventually calls on me, saying "hey you in the blue shirt what is the relative price going to be?" to which im not sure how to respond seeing how im wearing a gray shirt with a blue and green tie... but the whole sweating class (by then even the open doors weren't preventing the class-al warming of the jfsb.... maybe al gore should make a power point about that) is staring at me and so i answer " higher?" to which she smiles and says that is correct! boo ya! anyhow i dont know if i could possibly put the econ review in words enough to describe the sheer hilarity that it was. its too bad addi missed it cause he was sleeping so much. come to think of it, he may still be in there sleeping, or possibly baking if the doors are shut.

lobsters

2008-02-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

i really dont like crustaceons. they taste gross and they are really slimy. on my mission i ate crab for an hour nonstop and a couple hours later i just lost it all. it was gross. i think it was then i realized i didnt like anything with an exoskeleton. they look really delicious on top, but deep down they are filled with meat that could possibly make your stomach churn. they look good on top, but underneath they just arent. have you ever watched a lobster in a tank? they always start crawling over each other and anytime a lobster almost gets free, another lobster will pull him down and start the whole futile cycle all over again. i think the aquabats said it best. i think its best if we all just stop pulling people down and start building each other up. im definitely not the best at that, but i'm going to try to change my ways. Many times we may view people as shellfish, as just lifeless little beings, no feeling, just something we can walk all over, but even vegans dont eat clams! i guess what im trying to get it at is that everything has worth, even if you cant really see it on top. clam and oyster shells might be the most unappealing in the ocean, but inside they have something that even a sworn sea food avoider would like- a pearl. the lesson here is that no matter what we think, all things have worth. and that steak and potatoes makes a much better meal.

jiffy lube redux

2008-02-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

so i wrote jiffy lube a very angry letter. i got a friendly phone call in return. i talked to mike and he took great care in apologizing and making sure that the situation was completely fixed. he explained to me that since the manager at his store was "hispanic" there may have been a bit of communication failure, but that that really wasnt a good excuse. he was very polite and professional and i was very excited when he asked "where should i send the check?" so all in all im a happy camper. good for jiffy lube for being a good business and remembering that the customer is always right. and thanks paul for taking the time to leave a comment! word. cev-us (prounounced seevus) walks. Serenity now!!!!

jiffy lube.

2008-02-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

well this one goes out to my rediculously sick friend, cant even visualize. i hope this little update in the chronicles makes you feel a bit better. so i needed an oil change thatis weekend. and i thought about the many places i could go and i remembered that the generous athletic department of BYU had given all of us a coupon for 7 bucks off of an oil change! well that was a great incentive for me to go! so i show up and i tell them i wanna use my coupon and the guy tells me that i can use my Student ID as well to get another 7 bucks off! that would total 14 bucks! (for all you uvsc students i added it up for ya) anyhow so i was stoked and uber pleased with my decision. they told me that they would be done in about an hour. so in the meantime my friend drew and i go to the local big lots and walk around to see with what kind of stuff we want to decorate our apt next semester. as we shop we remember our plan to get fly swatters to take to the basketball games and use them to taunt the other teams players when they get "swatted" by our team. (please dont write to the daily universe complaining about my "unsportsmanship") so we cant find them at big lots.... (turned out they have a big lot of nothing) so we went to rite aid which turned out to be wrong aid and we finally got to maceys where we found what it was we were looking for. anyhow oh and we stopped at the rentacenter and saw that big screen tv's are for rent for only 75 bucks a month! boo ya! anyhow this is supposed to be about jiffy lube. well about an hour and a half later we go back to jiffy lube and they still arent done with our freaking cars, so we go off to the marriott center to wait in line so we can get Utah tickets which was pointless for me because i have to go to rehearsal among other things... anyhow so while im sitting in the frozeness we call provo, outdoors, i get a call from the lube telling me that my car is ready, but they noticed some problems and asked if i wanted to fix them. now i had heard about how notoriously sneaky jiffy lube was, but i didnt think they would pull the same act on me. they told me about some things that i knew were wrong with my car and i agreed to have thme fix it after they quoted me some pretty decent and low prices. after i got my tickets (which i have to give away) i went to the jiffy lube and picked up my car. when i went to pay i should them the coupon and my student id but the man at the counter said "i can only accept one of those, company policy" i was flabbergasted! the man at the beginning said i could have both! but they refused to budge, so i took my lumps and left. on my way out i read the line items on my invoice and saw that they had charged me more for the extra crap they did than they had quoted me over the phone! oh man at this point i was livid!!!! so i went back into the store and i said "you quoted me 5.99 for this radiator cap, but you charged me 11.99!!!!" to which the lazy grease monkey replied "oh no they are 9.99...". i just about hit the roof when he said this! these high school dropouts had lied to my face on at least 3 occasions!!!! i was gonna rip the walls down and beat the guy with them! i couldnt take it so i just left in a huff with a head full of things i reallllly wanted to say to the grim covered theif! after that ordeal and after a lot of calming down from my homies drew and shankstick we went to the basketball game, sponosored by Jiffy Lube. karma.

class time for zeffy.

2008-02-17T22:54:00.000-08:00

so i have class with a certain lolita. (i dont think that the classy enigmatic vixens know the full meaning of that word, but maybe they do... if so its quite fitting...) anyhow, i have class with Lolita and whenever i come in on time i feel obligated to sit next to her. probably cause shes in my ward and i want to "sustain" the members, but oftentimes this seems like a bit of a chore. i really dont like talking to her... i never have anything to say, and she doesnt really either, but she says it anyway... when class ends, i try to get up and go out quick but she manages to always be right there at my side. i feel awkward around her cause one time i was going to pick up my laundry at around 2 a.m. and when i opened the door i saw two bodies quickly separate from eachother and saw her face, as she was seemingly gasping for breath. kind of an awkward place to be making out dont you think? so i really cant get that image out of mind and plus i have the vixens filling me in on the outlandish, but believable craziness our lacivious lolita seems to a part of. Dang lolita, you making me crazy holmes.

THE WAR ZONE

2008-02-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

the sniper slowly and methodically took out the members of nate the great's team. one by one the fell at pull of the dastardly villans's trigger. soon mr great wasnt looking all the great anymore. one false step and he'd be off to the nerd heaven ( a dungeons and dragon convention in the sky...). as marshmallow natey strafes along a wall, the expected happens and he takes a virtual bullet between the virtual bi-focals. Fists slam the desk as the real slim natey growls in disgust. "come one people"he cries, imagining other people around him helping him finish his top secret mission. "ugghhhhh why cant we just get this sniper!!! JEEEEEEZZ!" nate starts over his attempt for the umpteenth time this evening. once again the pattern is repeated and the groans and exclamations and fist pounding seems to get louder and more booming. "FETCH" he exclaims so loud, he pulls the sergeant major seated in the next room right off his chair. "atten hut, Nathan Thompson!" sarge barks, "you realize that your constant clamoring and chatter are affecting everyone in this fox hole? you are not the only one here, so i suggest you make like a storm window and SHUT UP!" silence fills the tiny apartment. not even the spiders crawling underneath the affable (though sloppy) actors bed dare to move. "at ease soldier." the army-esque fiance quietly states. slowly life crept back into the small abode as the geek got back to his computer-generated reality. the geek couldnt help but feel odd... his first human contact in what felt like weeks, or as the gnomes keep time in many a fortnight. "what an extraordinary event" he reflected. "the more annoying i get, the more possibility i have of having people talk to me." the technological wonder went back to his slaying of snipers, but also formulated a plot to gain the attentions of his fellow commrades through random acts of annoying. to be continued.....

living in the lincoln continental....

2008-02-11T20:11:00.002-08:00

if only i really lived in something as classy as a lincoln continental... i just have a roommate who wears a woman bathrobe, a drill sargeant, and someone upstairs just yelled "fine" and slammed the door. next thing i know there will be gunshots! but thats not what i wanna talk about.... let me tell ya about the cougareat. what a joy and pleasure it was to spend 4 quaint weeks there. i never got a food handlers permit, or got safety training, but yet no one seemed to notice! so that was really reassuring! also when it came to uniform time, they just reached into a bag and found my size and gave it to me. luckily one of my shirts didnt smell too bad.... and the hat... oh man that hat... i think its the worst part about working there. after you work your shift, you can still feel the after effects of wearing the hat, just reminding you of how low you've sunk. who knows if i have lice... i know they didnt spray that hat. so my first day, im putting fry sauce and lettuce on a bun and all the other employees are in absolute awe that i can handle the assembly so well on my own. for a second i thought i was working in the uvsc cafeteria... anyhow so as i keep on going on with my little foray into food service, i learned a few things. if a customer ever returns food becuase it wasnt prepared well enough, dont throw it away, put it under a heat lamp so david (names have not been changed) can eat it when his shift is over. also, i found that the more annoyingly you attempt to speak your mission language to customers and fellow coworkers, the less i like you. along with scoreboard, i worked at little tomas', or as the sign says "tomasittos". this was easier and more sanitary, but it had its downsides. one time i spilled a plate of biscuits and gravy.... dumb i know, but i cleaned it up. well my dear "crew supervisor" stopped at nothing to make sure that i was aware that i had spilled and was huffed and puffed the rest of the morning. i kid you not. i thought she was gonna get a daily universe and roll it up and swat me like a dog. but at least i got free "food" right? all i know is i have a lot of respect for the good people that take those jobs. i also dont have a lot of respect for the dumb people that take those jobs. anyhow that was a little bitter, and im not sure which one i am (good or dumb) but at least i get to wear a tie to work now!

Dealing With BYU's Homeless

2008-02-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

almost everyday i see homeless people on campus. they usually reside in the jfsb. on more than one occasion i have been walking down the stairs to get to my 8:00 poli sci class only to find the stairwell blocked by a sleeping homeless person. she looked well dressed and she had a backpack, but for all i knew she was homeless. who else sleeps in the middle of where everyone walks around. as i got to the basement i saw the hallways littered with homeless people, mostly girls, sprawled out, covering themselves in their homeless abercrombie and fitch jackets, probably dreaming of finding 3 quarters so they could buy something from the vending machines. (the jfsb might have the best on campus, by the way... its a toss up between the hfac and the jfsb) anyhow they arent only in the jfsb either. try walking through the benson building and you'll see hordes of homeless sleeping under the little displays about president benson, nestled into their little alcove clutching their homeless person biology book. pretty disturbing if you ask me, all these homeless people sleeping all over the campus of the Lords university. and today i saw something so sad i almost cried. a homeless guy had made a ball of snow and was eating it between the swkt and the science center.... i just felt for the guy, he had sunk so low he had to eat snow off the ground (probably where he would be sleeping that night..) anyhow the homeless person lounging around campus problem has got to stop. i just dont want to step over some sleeping homeless person on my way to new testament, i dont think its very christian of them to make me do that.

2008-02-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

have you ever seen john mccains arms? they are robotic. he doesnt move his shoulders. i was told today that he was prisoner of war and that the vietcong broke his shoulders, but i dont really believe that. i think hes just awkward. i dont know if i cold ever vote for someone who doesnt move their shoulders when they speak. hes a robot as the video will explain.... anyhow i think we all learned from this... ROBOTS HATE MORMONS and want to give illegal immigrants amnesty.

foundoutedness

2008-02-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

today at FHE i came to know CEV, it really made me LOL. i found them to be stalkerish as they knew about my love of road trips and my insatiable hunger for techno music. but all in all it was a grand experience finding out the fiends that have consistently plagued the army-esque one with love notes every week. i think they thought themselves quite clever, but i still found out victoria's secret.

army-esque and the secret agenda

2008-02-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

i think ive figured out who the people are that call my roommate armyesque, and essentially drive him crazy. now should i help him know the truth and spoil the fun? no i dont think so either. good job CEV... i got the C & the E, but where did the V come from?.....

House Council

2008-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

three men sit in a living room all pointing fingers at each other. whose fault is it? is it the army-esque coed getting married in a few months? are his expectations too high? is it the easy going, somewhat sloppy, wanna be actor? Is his nonchalance messing with the fengshui of the apartment? or is it the lonely computer whiz, whose finesse with a digital sword is unmatched this side of the rockies? has his perpetual life in virtual reality destroyed his concept of all reality? and so they counsel... "im a slob i know, but i try to do my part" the affable actor protests. "I've been cleaning my own dishes and i havent complained about the warzone in our front room." the reference of war piques the interest of both the co-ed and the whiz, each for differing reasons. the betrothed hears war and thinks organization. the lonely thinks necromancers. the thespian goes on, "its really hard to invite people over when all i can hear is swords clanking, orcs dying, and cars racing. you need to have your computer in your room." this puts the computer-fancier on the spot and immediately he lashes out, "you dont have much to listen too on the tv anyhow! and besides last night watching batman begins, you were talking the whole time. someone sitting right next to me talking is a lot worse than hearing my video games going 5 feet behind you. i would invite friends over if our house was clean." using logic that would only be reasonable in the fantasy world he lives in, the cyberjunkie effectively makes himself look stupid. first off who would the hopeless gamer invite over? the last human contact he had was when he had to put a dime in the hand of the pizza delivery guy. drill sergeant cant stand it anymore and explodes like a land mine in a rice paddy. "ive been cleaning this house nonstop since i got here and none of you pipsqueaks seems to notice! cant you keep the house clean for an hour?!" he exasperatedly yells. the rivals go on and on jawing and moaning until they realize, that passiveness is the key.

regret

2008-01-20T11:37:00.001-08:00

Watching your house shrink away in my rear view mirror
as I drive away
wishing that I could take back all those words that meant nothing
that I didn't say

i' realize now more than ever that i don't really regret things i've done, as much as things i didn't do but could have... missed opportunities carry the worst regrets.

a blog for me

2008-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Well I've decided to start a blog. I think this will be a good way to put out how I feel and what I think. I've got a lot on mind nowadays, and so I thought a blog would be a good way to sort some of it all out. Well, here goes!